Days after being released from prison, Marietta Police say a high-tech savvy 19-year old went back to what he knows best -- crime.

David Baldwin with the Marietta Police said Tyler Thomas walked into a Circle K convenience store on Bells Ferry Road, told the clerk he was there to service the gift card machine and walked away with it.

"He was then able to allegedly access the machine from another location," Baldwin said, "and was able to siphon off tens of thousands of dollars from the store itself."

The machine Thomas is accused of taking looks like a credit card swipe machine, but is used to place credit on blank gift and gasoline cards.

Baldwin said Thomas appeared to work on the machine in the store for about 15 minutes with customers coming and going before convincing the clerk that the repair would have to be completed at the "home office."

Security expert Brent Brown said the clerk made a major mistake by assuming the young man in khakis with a clipboard and laptop was a legitimate service technician for the company.

"You've got to verify their credentials," he said.  "If it doesn't sound right and it doesn't smell right, move on."

Thomas recently was released from prison on parole.  He'd served time on more than a dozen convictions for a similar crime.

Baldwin said the theft should be a warning to other convenience store owners and clerks to be on the lookout for a smooth-talking suspect.