David Gillispie, 41, of St. Petersburg (Picture: Pinellas County Jail)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) — According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, a St. Petersburg man allegedly stole thousands of dollars from a client and an employer in two separate schemes.
According to an affidavit, 41-year-old David Gillispie was painting a woman’s home when, unbeknownst to her, he obtained the customer’s checkbook and credit card.
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Officials said Gillispie forged 25 checks and made 28 credit charges on the victim’s account between October 16, 2021 and November 18, 2021. In all, he is accused of stealing $18,200.61.
Gillispie was spotted on surveillance video doing the counterfeit check transaction. According to the affidavit, his name was also on the checks as the recipient of the stolen funds.
However, the sheriff’s office said this wasn’t the first time the handyman had stolen from customers.
In a second affidavit, the PCSO stated that Gillispie illegally took payments from customers while working as a sales representative for Spray Gunner between October 2020 and May 2021.
According to officials, the thefts were discovered when the business owner noticed a sharp drop in sales and realized his customers had high balances.
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The victim traced the balances to Gillispie’s work computer, where the employer found an open PayPal account on the workstation.
The affidavit states that the PayPal account is a clone of Spray Gunner’s official account, but is used to send payments directly to Gillispie.
Investigators found that Gillispie used multiple accounts to receive these payments and provide customers with large amounts of credit.
MPs said goods were dispatched to these customers with no payment made to Spray Gunner.
In total, the company lost $14,539.74.
Officials arrested Gillispie on Friday and charged him with two counts of fraud (fewer than 20,000).
