STUART – A Port St. Lucie man is facing fraud charges for allegedly using an 87-year-old man’s credit card and personal information to put a down payment on a car, according to a Stuart Police arrest affidavit.

On May 1, the Stuart Police Department received a report that a 2024 Infiniti QX80, purchased online from Infiniti of Stuart in the 3970 block of U.S. 1, Stuart on March 28, was bought using someone else’s personal information, according to an arrest affidavit.

A check for the down payment of the car initially was submitted but when the check did not clear, the suspect, later identified as Giuseppe Prestigiacomo, 48, of Port St. Lucie, provided credit card information on April 25 which cleared, an Infiniti manager told police, according to the arrest affidavit.

Detectives learned that Prestigiacomo had obtained the victim’s information while employed by an air conditioning company in Jupiter, according to the arrest affidavit.

The victim initially spoke to Prestigiacomo, a dispatcher for the company, on the telephone and agreed to pay for half of the installation of an air-conditioning unit over the phone by credit card, a total coast of $15,000, according to the arrest affidavit. When the payment apparently did not go through, the victim called the air-conditioning company, spoke to Prestigiacomo, who said the company needed a copy of his driver’s license and credit card to complete the transaction, according to the arrest affidavit.

However, no representatives of the air-conditioning company came out to do the work and the victim subsequently discovered an unexpected charge of $3,090 to the auto dealership on his account, according to the arrest affidavit. The victim then called Infiniti on April 28 to report the fraud and the dealership then contacted police, according to the arrest affidavit.

In interviews with police, Prestigiacomo said that he used the victim’s credit card information by mistake and that he planned to rectify the matter.

Prestigiacomo was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of criminal use of personal identification by a victim under 18 or over 60; larceny/grand theft; and use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Prestigiacomo was released on $40,000 bond on May 26, according to a Martin County Jail spokesperson.

(Get assistance through Florida’s Fraud Hotline. Florida’s Attorney General provides a toll-free fraud hotline for Floridians who are the victims of Fraud. Contact the hotline at 1-866-9-NO-SCAM (1-866-966-7226). Trained advocates can help provide additional resource information in your area.)