Lubbock resident Michael Hommel said that he and his family feel violated after a thief took his wallet and ran up thousands of dollars in charges on his credit card. Hommel shared the story of this theft with EverythingLubbock.com in hopes of getting the thief behind bars. 

Hommel served in the Air Force and had two deployments to Iraq. The veteran is now a father and welcomed his third child, Brady, into the world on April 20. His wife and new son were discharged from Covenant several days later and Hommel’s father-in-law, who lives at the Koko Inn, expressed interest in meeting Brady. 

Hommel said he knew his wallet was with him when he arrived at Koko Inn on April 23.

“So I got the car and drove over to the Koko and went to go pick him up,” Hommel explained. “I couldn’t get his attention for a second, [so I] left the door open, left the car running, ran over by his room, waived at him, got his attention, got back in the car and waited for him.”

Hommel took his father-in-law home in the early afternoon for some time together as a family. At around 6:30 p.m. an ice cream truck drove down Hommel’s street and he figured he’d treat his family. He reached for his wallet but it wasn’t  there. 

“I got a sinking feeling which came over me, then I checked my online bank account and that’s when I saw charges at liquor stores, Walmarts, tons of purchases that were clearly not mine that were for high dollar amounts,” Hommel said.

He went to his phone to shut off his card and he realized that his card had already been flagged for fraudulent charges. 

“I came home and tried to soak that all inm how that all happened, why somebody would do that. Everything we’ve experienced in Lubbock, it’s the friendliest city on earth, everybody’s so great,” he said. 

Hommel had been planning for a newborn in the house for a while, but he didn’t plan to have his funds completely exhausted. The thief spent Hommel’s work credit card to the limit, then spent with his personal card. Hommel said his family’s total losses are well into the thousands of dollars. 

He is hopeful the bank will refund his accounts soon, but he has to wait for the refund until the bank finishes investigating the charges– a process which may take several more days. 

“So you know, obviously our bank account is empty and we have three kids in the house,” Hommel said.

While financially, the situation has put his family in a pinch, Hommel said his main concern isn’t the money, but rather making sure the thief is punished for what happened. He filed a police report and Lubbock Police are investigating. But Hommel is investigating on his own as well.

Hommel was able to track most of the credit card charges to stores in Lubbock which confirmed the timeline of the theft.

Management at Fat Kat’s Liquor even let him watch and record their surveillance footage . They captured images of an individual who made purchases there at the exact time-stamp that the credit card was used there, Hommel said. 

Hommel has been sharing these images, motivated by the fact that this theft robbed him of more than just financial security.

“The worst part of it all is, I can get a new drivers license, I can get a new veterans’ ID card, but what I can’t replace is I had a picture of my wife she had given to me 22 years ago,” Hommel said. “We were high school sweethearts and to lose that picture now after everything that it’s  been through– I took that picture with me to Iraq, sitting in tent city it was the one thing that really got me through was to have that piece of her with me. To  lose that now, it’s pretty painful.”

He is hoping that someone who recognizes the person in the surveillance footage will come forward to police.Or at the very least get help retrieving that special photograph.

“If anything I would love to have that picture back or, you know, just see this guy– he needs to pay for what he did,” Hommel said.

Hommel said he’s grateful that people on social media and the store owners at the places he checked for surveillance footage were extremely helpful and empathetic

Lt. Ray Mendoza with the Lubbock Police said that when experiencing a credit card theft, it’s best to do what Hommel did and cancel your accounts as soon as you find out.

“You’re also going to want to monitor your credit, in case they are filing for more credit cards under that name,” Mendoza advised. 

If you have information related to this case, contact CrimeLine at 741-1000.