A 24-year-old man with a criminal history in five states managed to spend last week in a room at the Scottsdale Hilton with nothing but a $20 prepaid credit card.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, Thomas Burgman-Panky checked in at the Hilton on the afternoon of February 18 and tried to use a prepaid American Express card with a $20 balance to cover the stay, at a price of $3,347.10.
As you can imagine, the charge was declined.
However, police say he gave the hotel a false authorization number -- it's not mentioned how he came up with that number -- and Burgman-Panky was living the Scottsdale Hilton life until Friday.
We're not sure why anyone trusted a guy with purple hair to begin with, but Friday was the day when the hotel discovered that the authorization number was phony.
According to court documents, Burgman-Panky claimed he used the wrong credit card altogether, but when police got involved, they discovered that his account balance with Chase Bank was "less than half of the cost of the hotel bill."
Burgman-Panky, a resident of Detroit, is currently the subject of a similar investigation in Illinois, court documents state.
He has no ties to the Phoenix area but does have a criminal history in five states, according to the documents.
Burgman-Panky now faces two felony charges for his stunts at the Hilton, including fraud and obtaining a service without paying.
