Published March 25. 2025 02:45PM
Attorney General Dave Sunday announced that a Lehigh County man has been charged with numerous crimes for using stolen credit cards to purchase about $100,000 in merchandise from Lowe’s stores in over a dozen Pennsylvania counties.
Alex Jose Rulan, 33, of Allentown, is charged with corrupt organizations, organized retail theft, criminal conspiracy, identity theft, and related offenses.
Rulan is at Montgomery County Jail on previously-filed charges.
“This defendant systematically targeted consumers and stores across the Commonwealth to steal high-dollar goods,” Attorney General Sunday said. “The diligent work of our Organized Retail Crime Unit has stopped another criminal enterprise from inflicting further harm on hardworking Pennsylvanians.”
Earlier this year, Lowe’s Companies Inc. reported that Rulan has been using stolen store credit cards to purchase items, such as flooring, air conditioning units, vacuums, and other items. In some cases, Rulan used fraudulent identification to pose as the person who owned the credit card.
In all, between June 2023 and December 2023, Rulan targeted at least 23 Lowe’s stores in over a dozen counties across the state, purchasing approximately $96,000 in goods.
The investigation is ongoing.
This case is being prosecuted by Senior Deputy Attorney General Philip M. McCarthy. Criminal charges, and any discussion thereof, are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.