Police: Woman arrested after showing up at Washington City Walmart in stolen U-Haul

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ST. GEORGE — A credit card fraud at Walmart in Washington City was apparently solved after police arrested a woman Tuesday.

According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, a woman, later identified as  41-year-old Sara Shelley was caught on video using a stolen credit card to make multiple fraudulent charges.

When the officer compared the image in the surveillance footage with a photo of Shelley, the images matched.

The footage also showed Shelley getting into a U-Haul truck, which the officer was advised was reported as stolen out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The truck had been rented under her name in August and was to be returned a week later.

When the rental agency failed to get the moving truck back they made several attempts to contact Shelley, and when those efforts failed the truck was reported as stolen and entered into the national database.

The officer then went to Shelley’s workplace and arrested her, transporting her to the Washington City Police Department for an interview.

When shown the receipts from three separate transactions made at the Walmart in Washington City, as well as the footage captured at the time, Shelley reportedly admitted to making the purchases, but said the credit card she used was given to her by a friend “to buy whatever she wanted with it,” the officer recounted in the report.

Shelley also said she was unaware the card was stolen. When asked, she told the officer she did rent the U-Haul in New Mexico, adding she had been driving it since August. She went on to say that while she was aware the truck was to be returned after one week, she said she contacted the company and was told she “can keep using it.”

Shelley was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing multiple charges, including second-degree felony possession of a stolen vehicle, as well as three counts of unlawful use of a financial card and possession of financial card info, each a third-degree felony.

The U-Haul truck was impounded and will be held until it can be returned to the company.

Ed. Note: A new Utah law generally prohibits the release of arrest booking photos until after a conviction is obtained.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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