A Bossier City man was arrested today after police said he bought more than $4,000 worth of merchandise with stolen credit cards and checks.

James Brett Harte, 37, was booked into the Bossier City Jail on forgery charges, among others, Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale said.

Shreveport police had recently arrested Harte on unrelated charges, he said. They then discovered he looked like a man shown in video surveillance from stores on both sides of Red River using stolen checks and credit cards.

The checks and credit cards were reported stolen Oct. 30 in conjunction with a carjacking. Bossier City officers asked for help in identifying a man who tried to use a check with a woman’s name on it at the Sears in Pierre Bossier Mall that day.

The man tried to buy a plasma television, among other items. Sears personnel refused to accept the check, and the man left the store while the employee called police.

Store personnel gave police the woman’s name printed on the check, and an investigation showed it is the name of an 81-year-old Shreveport woman.

Bossier City and Shreveport police had been conducting a joint investigation.