COCOA, Fla. A Brevard County Fire Rescue Lieutenant is facing eight criminal counts across two felony cases after Brevard County Sheriff’s Office deputies say he took credit and bank cards belonging to two firefighters from inside a Cocoa fire station and used them at a Publix and at two gas stations, where deputies say he bought hundreds of dollars in lottery scratch-off tickets.
Wesley Thomas McCormick, 40, of Cocoa, was arrested on Aug. 28 at Brevard County Fire Rescue administrative headquarters in Rockledge, and transported to the Brevard County Jail Complex, according to probable cause affidavits sworn by the BCSO.
The Brevard County Clerk of Court has docketed the arrests as two separate circuit court cases. Both list an offense date of Aug. 25, 2026, and both are categorized as theft, forgery and fraud. The location of offense on both affidavits is listed as BCFR Station 44, 3780 W. King St. in Cocoa.
According to a source familiar with the incident, the investigation is ongoing and additional victims have been identified.
The first case
According to the affidavit in case 047151, a Sheriff’s Office public safety aide responded to Station 44 on Aug. 25 and met with one of the victim’s, identified in the document as a BCFR firefighter assigned to that station. She is also a paramedic for the agency.
She reported that she had been notified by her credit card company of two separate unauthorized charges on two separate Capital One credit cards, each in the amount of $207.95 and each at a Publix grocery store, for a total of $415.90. She initially assumed she had been the victim of an online or chip reading scam and froze and canceled the cards, according to the affidavit, and did not realize until several hours later that the cards were missing from her belongings.
The affidavit states that she decided to report the matter on Aug. 25, 2026, after another firefighter assigned to Station 44 and working the same rotation was notified of fraudulent charges on his own bank and credit cards.
Deputies collected Publix surveillance footage and positively identified a suspect, according to the affidavit. The document states that McCormick knowingly possessed two credit cards belonging to Stockman that had been taken without her consent, that he intended to impede the cardholder’s recovery of them, and that he used the cards to obtain roughly $400 in goods for himself.
The second case
The affidavit in case 047153 identifies another victim, also a BCFR firefighter assigned to Station 44.
According to that document, the victim returned to Station 44 after working calls for service and received a notification of a $206 transaction on his American Express card. He went to his bunk area and checked his wallet, which had been left on the nightstand next to his bed, and found that his American Express card and his USAA bank card were missing. He then logged into his USAA app and found multiple charges he had not authorized within roughly the previous two hours, followed by additional American Express notifications from the same day and timeframe.
The affidavit puts the total fraudulent activity on the two cards at $617.02.
Investigators collected surveillance footage and receipts from a Sunoco gas station and a Shell gas station and positively identified McCormick as the suspect, according to the document. The affidavit alleges he used $406.51 of the victim’s funds at the Shell station to buy multiple scratch-off lottery tickets, on which he won $700, and used the USAA bank card for another $200 in scratch-off tickets at the Sunoco.
Alleged admission
Both affidavits state that in a post-Miranda interview, McCormick admitted taking the victims’ credit cards while they were stored inside BCFR Station 44, and that he identified himself when shown surveillance footage of the transactions.
The charges
Each case carries four counts. In both, deputies charged one count of fraudulent use of identification information without consent where the victim is a first responder, under section 817.568(11), Florida Statutes; one count of fraudulent use of a credit card over $100 or more than twice in six months, under section 817.61; and one count of theft by obtaining a credit card through fraudulent means, under section 817.60(8).
The fourth count differs between the two cases. Case 047151 charges petit theft in the second degree from a building, first offense, under section 812.014(3)(a). Case 047153 charges grand theft from a building of property valued at more than $750 and less than $5,000, a third-degree felony, under section 812.014(2)(c)(1).
The first responder counts exist because of the victims’ status. Section 817.568(11) elevates the offense where the personal identification information belongs to a public servant or first responder.
The affidavits list a $2,500 bond on each of the credit card and theft counts and no bond on the first responder identification counts.
Agency response
The Space Coast Rocket contacted Brevard County Fire Rescue with questions about McCormick’s employment, rank, duty status, whether an internal investigation has been opened, and what steps the agency has taken regarding the two firefighters identified as victims. The agency stated to reach out to BCSO for any comments. This story will be updated if it does.
We also reached out to McCormick for comment as well. He has not yet responded.
All charges are allegations. McCormick is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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