A convicted felon and member of the Crazy White Boys gang was arrested on fraud charges June 16 by the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.
He was accused of making purchases at Publix stores in two different counties using another person’s store app and debit card, court records show.
Court documents reviewed June 17 show James Hannah, 43, of Summerhill, was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail on charges of fraudulent use of personal identification information and unauthorized access to computer systems or electronic device. He is being held on $30,000 bail.
A warrant report filed with the court showed that Hannah lived at a Bannister Street home in Deltona when the alleged fraud took place in 2025.
According to court filings, the sheriff’s office started investigating the case in August 2025 after the victim reported that his Publix app and a debit card linked to the app were used to make purchases at Publix stores in Marion and Sumter counties. The victim reported he had no idea how the suspect accessed his information, the charging affidavit stated.
Sheriff’s deputies said Hannah and his wife, Samantha Cannova, used a cellphone to make the purchases — “consistent with using the Publix app.”
It was not immediately known if Cannova was charged or faces charges in the fraud case.
Investigators: Couple made more than $4.3K in fraudulent Publix purchases
The victim reported that he was traveling out of state when the fraud took place. He said his bank alerted him to the fraudulent transactions at Publix, and when he accessed his app on his cellphone, he found a “plethora of transactions throughout the Marion and Sumter county area,” investigating deputies wrote in the charging affidavit.
The victim reported that his debit card was linked to the Publix app with which he scanned the QR code to pay for groceries, the report noted.
Between June 24 and July 11, 2025, fraudulent transactions made with the victim’s debit card totaled $4,372.88, records show.
Hannah and Cannova were seen on surveillance cameras at Publix stores in Bellview, The Villages and Ocala making purchases, the charging affidavit states.
Facial recognition and prison tattoos help ID man in fraud, court documents show
A Publix Loss Prevention Officer provided investigating deputies with surveillance camera footage for 24 transactions, court records said.
Sheriff’s deputies used facial recognition software to identify the suspects. They first identified Cannova, who had a Facebook profile as “Samii Jo Savage,” deputies noted in the report.
On her profile, Cannova said she was married to Hannah, court records say.
Deputies also used facial recognition technology to identify Hannah, and saw that he had several face tattoos, including his wife’s name in a cursive tattoo, investigators said.
Deputies learned Hannah had been to prison and Florida Department of Corrections records show he was released in September 2024.
Deputies asked a lieutenant, who is the Security Threat Group Intelligence Officer with the Florida Department of Corrections, to identify Hannah. Not only did the corrections lieutenant identify Hannah but he also reported that he had documented Hannah’s gang tattoos, the report detailed.
The corrections lieutenant confirmed that Hannah was a member of the Crazy White Boys he had interviewed while in prison and documented his tattoos, which included the letters “CWB” on the right side of his neck, court documents revealed.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Crazy White Boys gang member charged in Publix fraud, cops say
Reporting by Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
