Steve M

Regarding the filing of a police report, I'd recommend doing so with the Beverly Hills Police Department. After all, that's where the crime occurred. Although other jurisdictions (such as where the cardholder lives) might also work, by doing it in Beverly Hills, it's far more likely to get the ball rolling toward a resolution. In particular, it would seem that for a theft of that size (and actually under California law, it would probably be a burglary, as with a fraudulent credit card transaction, it would be reasonable to assume that criminal intent was formed prior to entering the business, which means trespass + theft, which means burglary), you have a good chance of getting a detective's notice to investigate, rather than just a report being taken. You didn't say what kind of merchant it was, but I would imagine that any merchant in Beverly Hills that sells goods or services that could rack up a $55,000 charge in one transaction would have good video surveillance in place. The investigating detective would probably pay a visit to the merchant and retrieve images of the bad guy. In addition to helping perhaps solve the crime, these images would also help to establish that the cardholder was not the one that made the purchase.