Son spent ~$200 on a found credit card

Location: North Carolina

I’ll keep it to the point: my 27 year old son found a credit card on the ground at a gas station and used it to buy gas and ~$150 in items at the gas station store (total amount spent comes in just under $200). He tried to then make a second transaction at the same gas station and the card was declined. He threw the card out afterwards.

We are all very confounded by this – he has no criminal record, has a decent job in healthcare, and is generally a good kid. He is very upset with himself and says that he doesn’t know why he did it. He said that he was feeling low on cash after paying some unexpected bills and idiotically jumped at the chance. First time offender.

This happened on Sunday. He confessed it to me and his mother today. We are not sure what to do. He hasn’t been caught but is afraid that they’ll be able to easily trace it to him. He gassed up his own car (license plate might be spotted on security cameras) and (here’s the kicker…) he used his own credit card to cover second transaction that was declined by the card.

At this point, would it be better for him to just turn himself in? Or should we wait for the police or his bank to contact him? Will they for sure know it was him? Our understanding is that this would be a misdemeanor in North Carolina. Thank you.