It takes a lot of trust for someone to let a housekeeper or cleaner into their home, since the moment there’s something stolen or missing, the finger will be pointed straight at them. But one man in Florida who works for his family cleaning business thought that he could get away with swiping one of his customer’s credit card information and have nobody notice. The thief couldn’t tell that investigators had already been monitoring him for nearly a year and that he was leaving an extensive paper trail behind him.
Credit card thief had access to the victim’s home
On October 9 at around 4:25 p.m., deputies arrested 45-year-old Jesse Modzel at his home in Palm Coast after he was caught paying for hotel stays using one of his client’s credit cards, according to a report by local outlet FOX 35 and a post by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office on its official Facebook page.
However, detectives were already working on his case months ago. The investigation began in December 2025 when a Palm Coast resident found something odd on his credit card statement. He found that there were fraudulent charges made to his card, but since he still had the card in his possession and knew he did not make the purchases in question, Modzel quickly became one of the suspects.
That’s because Modzel worked as a handyman for his family cleaning business, Breezy Clean, and had unsupervised access to the victim’s house to perform his work. In other words, he had the means and opportunity, and the detectives ultimately deduced that he was the suspect they were looking for.
What Modzel actually used the credit card on was curious. While he charged the card to book stays at a Palm Coast resort, that hotel was merely down the road from his house. That’s why the sheriff’s office said that they arrested a man who booked a “staycation.”
Modzel also used the credit card to make payments to his business. He tried to be clever by changing the billing description on the business account before making the payments, but the detectives were still able to trace the transactions back to him.
Modzel ran away from deputies after they showed up at his house
After the year-long investigation, deputies finally obtained a warrant for Modzel’s arrest on October 10. When they arrived at his home, Modzel seemed to know that the writing was on the wall, with deputies saying that “he fled into the home.” He didn’t get very far, though, as they found him in the backyard.
Bodycam footage of his arrest, as shown by FOX 35, sees the 45-year-old in a white T-shirt and black shorts effectively giving up and casually walking out of linai in the backyard toward the deputies. They then put him in handcuffs and took him into custody, booking him at the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility.
Modzel faces several charges, including fraudulent use of a credit card, use of another person’s identification, and petit theft (second conviction). He was later released on a $2,500 bond.
“He’s not a very smart criminal,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “Thought he was. But our detectives unraveled his staycation. … He changed the account names to try to hide it, but detectives in our General Assignment Unit followed the money trail back to him.”
Staly says the investigation isn’t over, particularly because Modzel’s cleaning service has had multiple customers. He continued, “It would be pretty unusual, I think, for this guy to get caught on his very first time doing this. So we believe there could very well be other victims out there.”
The sheriff’s office says that anyone who might be a victimized by Modzel or his family’s Breezy Clean business to contact the department.
