A 32-year-old Atlanta man is in South Carolina jail for allegedly stealing more than $115,000 from a cell phone company.

John E. Blanton was arrested late Wednesday and charged with forgery after he allegedly got two new phone lines and two cell phones by using a fake name and tax identification number at a Verizon Wireless store, The Post and Courier reported.

The company's corporate security director determined that Blanton pulled the same act in a different store on the same day and had fraudulently obtained $115,517 worth of merchandise from the company during the past three years, police told the newspaper.

Karen Schultz, a spokesperson for Verizon Wireless, told the newspaper the company has previously prosecuted Blanton and plans to prosecute him again.

Blanton was booked into the Berkeley County jail, where he is being held on $10,000 bond, according to booking records.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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