Don't leave your debit card at a strip club on Bourbon Street.
A West Des Moines man learned that lesson two weeks ago, and now his bank is tracking down thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on the card.
A trip to New Orleans wound up costing more than $7,000, after Michael Nicosia, 25, lost track of his debit card and someone used it to make purchases in Mississippi and Louisiana.
Nicosia visited Stiletto's Cabaret, a club on Bourbon Street, on Sept. 15, according to a West Des Moines police report. He paid for a lap dance with his debit card.
On the way back to West Des Moines, Nicosia realized his debit card was missing, and once he arrived home he called US Bank to tell them.
Bank officials informed him his card had been used in Louisiana and Mississippi over the two days since the visit to Stiletto's, and $7,611.27 had been charged to the card.
It's unclear whether Nicosia left the card with a club employee who gave him the lap dance or if he dropped the card elsewhere.
Nicosia's bank has opened a fraud investigation, and police are investigating the case as an identity theft.
Two calls to Nicosia Tuesday afternoon were not answered. blogs.desmoinesregister.com
This guy definitely not a TUSCL member-or if he is, he ignored one of our Cardinal rules.