|
Bryant woman facing 36 fraud charges |
|
|
Thursday, 19 June 2008 |
A Saline County woman is facing 36 felony counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, and authorities said she could face federal charges in addition to the local ones.
Gennie Marie Carter, 31, of Bryant has a history of arrests, authorities said, and recently was on Saline County’s 10 most wanted list.
On Tuesday, Carter went to the Bryant Police Department thinking she was picking up personal items. She ended up with a trip to the county jail.
“We happened to be looking over some survellience tapes from Target in Bryant over credit card fraud,” Bryant Detective Jimmy Long said.
“We recognized [Carter] on the tapes and she happened to come into the police station to pick up some of her things. When I saw her, I said, ‘Hey, while you are here, let me talk to you about something else’. We then took her back to the interview room where she admitted to using a stolen credit card 36 times in Bryant.”
Long said the case began after Samuel Johnson of Benton found that a credit card he had been waiting for had been stolen from his mailbox. Johnson told Bryant police on June 3 that he found numerous charges to several stores in Bryant, including Target, Kohl’s, Shoe Carnival and Wal-Mart.
Long said he discovered that Carter had charged about $5,000 on the card from May 31 through June 3.
“Unfortunately, [Johnson] was unaware of when the credit card was first stolen because he didn’t know when it was suppose to arrive in his mailbox,” Long said, “so there were a few days between the card being stolen and making the report. Within about four days, [Carter] was able to swipe the card about 50 times at local businesses. She was going in and out of the stores all day long until the card was shut off.”
Long said Carter also used the card in Little Rock and in Hot Springs. He said she could possibly face federal charges because it is a federal offense to open another person’s mail.
Carter is being held on $5,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear before Saline County District Judge Mike Robinson on July 2.
Police said they are investigating to see if Carter had an accomplices.
Carter was arrested June 5 after Bryant police found her in possession of stolen checks during a traffic stop on Arkansas 5 North. Officer Lee Ledbetter said in his report that she was stopped for driving left of center and he found that Carter’s license was suspended.
After getting consent to search the vehicle, Ledbetter found stolen checks to six different accounts, along with a blank title to a vehicle, a handicap placard and an AT&T Visa gift card. She was charged with six counts of theft by receiving.
Carter was charged with robbery and aggravated assault in connection with a June 1-5 undercover drug sting operation by both the Shannon Hills and Alexander police departments.
Ledbetter said in that report that at least one victim he contacted said the check was stolen out of his mailbox to pay a bill.
“That’s a big trend, stealing out of mailboxes, and it is not uncommon in Saline County,” Long said.
“Unfortunately people can’t stop paying bills, but we can do other things to help prevent these thefts. Once they get your checks out of the mail, what we are seeing is people washing checks and rewriting them. Also, once someone has your check it’s very easy to reproduce that check with your account number on it.”Bryant Police Chief Tony Coffman said people can prevent having checks stolen from their mailboxs and becoming victims of identity theft by making a few changes.
“People can drop off their mail to pay bills at the post office, pay online and not putting up the red flag on your mailbox,” Coffman said.
“That is just a flag to these criminals showing that you have mail in your box. ... Do not raise that red flag.”
|
Razorbacks
