HURRICANE – A woman was arrested last week after allegedly stealing a credit card from her place of employment and racking up charges, even using the stolen card to pay her $291 court fine at the Washington City Justice Court.
Officers responded to a fraud report at a Hurricane business where the owner told authorities an employee had taken a business credit card without consent, according to a probable cause statement filed by the Hurricane City Police Department in support of the arrest. After the owner noticed multiple charges on his account, he checked the place where the card was stored and noticed it was missing.
The owner identified 24-year-old Malissa Anne Culbertson as one of the last people to have had the credit card, according to the statement, and said he believed she had made the eight fraudulent charges.
Authorities met with Culbertson at the Hurricane City Police Department Tuesday where she allegedly admitted to having taken the credit card from the business on Oct. 1.
“Malissa stated she knew what she was doing was wrong,” the arresting officer wrote in the statement.
Culbertson admitted to using the card on eight different occasions in both Washington and Iron counties on purchases including cigarettes, gas and a phone card, as well as to pay her $291 court fines.
“Malissa admitted to using the card to pay her court fines out of Washington City Justice Court,” the officer wrote. “I verified with the court that Malissa had indeed paid her court fines with the card.”
Culbertson was arrested and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility.
She was charged with a third-degree felony for unlawful acquisition of a financial card without consent, along with six class B misdemeanor counts of knowingly using a false financial transaction card and one class B misdemeanor for theft.
Washington County only charged Culbertson with six of the eight fraudulent credit card charges since two of the credit card charges were made in Iron County.
Judge John Walton, of the 5th District Court, ordered $35,000 bail for Culbertson’s release pending trial.
She was found indigent by the court during her initial court appearance Thursday and will be represented by court-appointed attorney Jay Winward. Culbertson is scheduled to make her next court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
Culbertson has since been released on bail.
Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
Related posts
- Utah among 4 states rejecting federal rules to prevent prison rape
- On the record: Beyond arrest, convictions bring life sentence of hardship
- On the record: Think twice before paying twice or more the price; crimes, punishment
- Future looks brighter for those suffering from behavioral health issues, addiction
- Drug-free zones: What, where are they? What is their purpose? STGnews Videocast
- Utah considers major criminal justice reform, reduced drug offense charges
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.
what a scum bucket,
this is blatant disregard for the law and disrespect in general for authorty.
they should make her clean the toilets on a continuous basis at the jail.
what a scum bucket,
this is blatant disregard for the law and disrespect in general for authority.
they should make her clean the toilets on a continuous basis at the jail.
Okay, we get it this time.
So, will they let her use that same card to post her bail?
DER.
Idiot.
This is one of the funniest and dumbest criminals yet.
Well she is a genius.
hahahahahaha….this is so stupid, its funny.
Well, at least she didn’t use her tithing money, thank heaven. she will be blessed.
Some habits are hard to break.
Can’t believe some idiot bailed her out! They better not leave their wallet unattended!
No problem. when she gets out she will probably get a checking account set up.