Trio arrested for organized retail theft after allegedly returning thousands of dollars of stolen property to local hardware stores

A 53-year-old transient man, a 60-year-old Tenasca, Wash. man and a 34-year-old Fernley man were arrested in the 400 block of Fairview Drive Wednesday for possession of a stolen vehicle, organized retail theft, conspiracy to commit fraud, and possession of heroin.

According to the report, James David Kulcsar, Lance Millican and James Lawrence Cardin were arrested at a local hardware store after deputies learned they had been committing numerous return frauds in Carson City and Reno.

The men were said to be driving a stolen U-Haul Pickup truck that had been reported stolen out of Idaho.

One of the men, Kulcsar, was at the customer service desk attempting to return a Craftsman pressure washer valued at $334.85, according to the report. The man had entered the hardware store empty handed, selected the pressure washer from the shelf, and brought it to the return desk.

Kulcsar was observed in the stolen U-Haul pickup truck with the other older male, Millican, who had been committing the fraud with Kulcsar in Reno, and a younger male, later identified as Carden.

While Kulcsar waited for his return to be accepted, deputies arrived at the store and waited in the parking lot. The store gave Kulcsar credit for the pressure washer, which he used to purchase another pressure washer on clearance for $214.19 and exited the store.

While Kulcsar was inside the store, the other two males drove away from the parking lot onto Fairview Drive in the stolen U-Haul. Deputies conducted a high speed traffic stop and took the two into custody.

As Kulcsar exited the store, deputies stopped him at gun point and took him into custody as well.

Kulcsar at first denied involvement with the return fraud scheme, but later admitted that he and Millican has been doing return frauds at local hardware stores, and had several hardware store credit cards in his possession.

He said that he and Millican had rented the U-Haul in Idaho two months prior and never returned it. He said he was doing the return frauds to “earn money to send to U-Haul to keep the truck longer.”

While doing intake at the jail, deputies located a small clear plastic baggie with heroin inside within Kulcsar’s wallet.

Inside the truck, deputies located heroin and methamphetamine paraphernalia.

Bail for Kulcsar: $77,500

Bail for Millican: $53,137

Bail for Cardin: $52,500

— A 64-year-old Carson City man was arrested in the 1700 block of N. Carson Street for failing to comply as a sex offender, a felony, after allegedly making threats against his roommate.

According to the report, Kenneth Alan Hayes was arrested after deputies were dispatched to a local motel for a report of threats in progress.

When deputies arrived on scene, Hayes immediately walked out of the room and came towards deputies, speaking very rapidly and not making much sense, according to deputies.

Hayes told deputies he had a warrant for his arrest, and he was detained while deputies verified the information. Dispatch advised that Hayes was a sex offender and was not in compliance. He had failed his annual verification, which is a felony offense. His last registered address was not where he was currently living, and the roommate advised deputies he had been living with him for approximately two weeks.

He was convicted in 1993 of attempted lewdness with a minor.

Hayes was taken into custody without issue.

Bail: $5,000

Warrants:

— A 60-year-old transient man was arrested at the Emergency Room on a contempt of court bench warrant issued Sept. 8, 2020.

The man had gone to the hospital for alcohol detoxing and deputies were dispatched to transfer him to the Mallory Crisis Center. When they learned of his warrant, however, they took him into custody instead.

Bail: $500 cash only

All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff's Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.