Bladensburg Police Officer Charged in Credit Card Fraud Case

A Bladensburg police officer has been charged with theft in a credit card fraud case.

Authorities say Ridwan Osanyinpeju stole more than $4,000 by illegally billing a woman’s credit card. He was arrested Thursday.

Osanyinpeju — who had been on the force for nearly two years — resigned Thursday, Chief of Police Charles Owens told News4.

According to charging documents obtained by News4, Osanyinpeju created an online account for a business called Morid Protection Services in late January.

About two weeks later, someone claiming to be a Missouri woman requested a duplicate credit card to be mailed to a Baltimore address, which was then used to pay Morid Protection Services $4,205.

The woman whose credit card number was used contacted authorities when she realized what had happened.

Owens told News4 that a number of credit card numbers belonging to a Missouri food chain were compromised, but it’s currently unknown how Osanyinpeju was involved in that process.

“We do not, we do not, stand for police officers being involved in criminal activity,” Owens said. “The very second we received that information [from Missouri law enforcement agents], we opened our investigation….”

Morid Protection Services’ checking account is the same one that Osanyinpeju gave to the town of Bladensburg for the direct deposit of his paychecks, according to charging documents.

Osanyinpeju was released on a $7,500 bond.

The investigation is ongoing.