By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Rowan County authorities charged a Salisbury man with opening a Wal-Mart credit card account in his mother’s name and using it for over a year.

Officials said he used her checking account to pay the bill each month.

Larry Eugene Wilkerson, 47, of the 100 block of Vista Drive, was charged with 28 counts of felony obtaining property by false pretenses and one count of fraudulently obtaining a credit card.

On March 21, Martha Hinton notified Rowan authorities that someone obtained a Wal-Mart credit card in her name and had been making regular purchases since April 2016. According to her bank records, she thought the person had spent more than $3,000. Hinton said she thought her son, Larry Wilkerson, was a possible suspect but that she didn’t want to believe it.

Hinton gave detectives copies of a credit card statement that Wal-Mart provided her and her SunTrust bank statements. The statements show purchases made at Wal-Mart, Subway, Circle K gas station, Quick Cash and PayPal. None of the purchases was over $70 and some were as low as $5.99, said Capt. John Sifford of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

The bank records also showed monthly payments of no less than $100 were made using Hinton’s checking account. Rowan detectives looked at Wal-Mart surveillance video footage showing Wilkerson making purchases in the store using the credit card.

On April 25, detectives spoke with Wilkerson, who initially denied getting a credit card but later was forthcoming with details. Detectives set up a time for Wilkerson to turn himself in, and he did on May 27 at the Rowan County Magistrate’s Office.

He remains in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $10,000 secured bond.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.