Authorities arrested a suspect in connection with an armed robbery mere minutes after it happened and not far from the scene of the alleged crime last week.

Aaron Mercier, 20, is in the Effingham County jail for an incident that took place early on the morning of April 9. A female juvenile also was taken into custody after a credit card that was stolen in front of the Krystal’s in Rincon was recovered by police at Wal-Mart.

Rincon Detective David Vales said Mercier was found with the card, and the account for it had been exhausted. The card had been stolen about midnight, and Effingham Sheriff’s deputies arrested Mercier at 3 a.m.

“They were trying to insinuate someone else had committed the crime,” Vales said. “After two and a half hours, he said he didn’t do it. He said a friend from Port Wentworth had tried to use the card.”

But Vales never got a straight story from Mercier on how he had the card.

“He changed his story three or four times in the course of the interview,” Vales said.

Mercier faces charges of credit card fraud, theft by receiving stolen property and making false statements. The female juvenile faces attempt to commit identify fraud, among other charges.

Police, though, are still trying to determine who committed the robbery.

“Who stole the card is still unknown,” Vales said. “We haven’t been able to corroborate the information.”