Judge denies bail for 2 suspects allegedly found with 100 fraudulent gift cards

Composite image | St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Two suspects were denied a bail reduction during a Tuesday hearing following their arrest on multiple felony charges filed last week in connection with a financial card scheme.

File photo for illustrative purposes only of Washington City Police officers responding to an incident near Red Robin in Washington City, Utah, Oct. 22, 2021 | Photo by Mori Kessler, St. George News

Precious Marie Powell, 33, and codefendant Deniqka Annette Mone Allen, 30 appeared in 5th District Court on Tuesday. Both are residents of Contra Costa County, about 45 miles east of San Francisco, California.

During the hearing, District Judge Eric A. Ludlow denied their request for a bail reduction and both remain in custody without bail. Allen is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on July 19, while the hearing in Powell’s case will take place on Aug. 8, which is when the bail amount in each of the cases will be addressed further, according to court records.

The hearing stems from an arrest that was set in motion on July 7 when a patrol officer was dispatched to a report of a possible fraud taking place at Walmart on Telegraph Street shortly after 10 p.m. in Washington City.

The officer responded to the store and spoke to an employee who said they called police after two women attempted to pay for several high-dollar gift cards using multiple bank cards – many of which were declined, charging documents state.

The employee said the activity was suspicious and something they see often in the store ad customers will use purportedly stolen credit cards or stolen information that is imprinted on blank financial cards. These cards, for example, the employee said, are then used to load money onto gift cards – a tactic used to make it more difficult to track the stolen cards and money.

The store’s security footage showed the two women using the multiple cards to purchase the gift cards before exiting the store. The footage also showed the pair entering a maroon Mitsubishi Outlander and driving away. Officers also noted the SUV had an Illinois license plate, and when the tag was run through emergency dispatch, the report states, officers learned it belonged to a rental vehicle.

2020 file photo for illustrative purposes only of the outside parking lot area of the Walmart store in Washington City, Utah, on July 15, 2020. | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Shortly thereafter, officers in Washington City were notified the vehicle was spotted at a fuel station by an officer in St. George.

Officers responded to the gas station where they found the maroon car matching the one seen in the Walmart footage, and the occupants also matched the two suspects seen inside the store on Telegraph.  The driver was later identified by her California Driver’s License as Powell, while the passenger was identified as Allen.

During the stop, officers conducted a search of the Mitsubishi and recovered multiple prepaid debit cards and gift cards belonging to both suspects.

Officers also obtained paperwork showing multiple gift cards were purchased for approximately $450 each, while 11 of the transactions failed when the alleged stolen bank cards were declined.

Each transaction listed the last four digits of the card used. Most of the charges were for purchasing prepaid gift cards, each around $450. They provided paperwork where at least 11 cards were declined.

When the officer attempted to match the cards recovered during the stop with the transactions records, they found that the card numbers did not match the paperwork.

Powell allegedly told the officer they were purchasing gift cards using other gift cards as payment. She explained the bank cards were not being read by the card reader, so they were unable to use the cards at other retail locations.

When asked, Powell also said they were putting small amounts on each card but then changed her story and said they were attempting to load each of the cards multiple times with smaller amounts. The officer also noted the cards appeared new, so he could see no reason why the cards could not be read by the card reader – as the suspects had claimed.

Following the arrests, a review of both suspect’s criminal history revealed this “was not the first time they have been charged with fraud,” the officer wrote, which resulted in prior convictions for both. The pair also has multiple fraud incidents in California and Allen also has a history of fraud in Colorado – several cases involving possession of fraudulent cards. They also found an active warrant issued out of California for Allen for failing to appear in court.

Salt Lake International Airport located in Salt Lake City, Utah, date not specified | Image courtesy of the Salt Lake International Airport, St. George News

Officers then learned that the women had just flown into Salt Lake City earlier that same day and then rented a car to travel to Southern Utah. Once there, the suspects went to the Walmart in Washington City, and to the Walmart in St. George directly for the purpose of obtaining additional gift cards allegedly using stolen card information.

Officers recovered a approximately 100 cards between the two suspects, and due to the significant amount of evidence collected, the officer wrote, the incident warranted further investigation by detectives.

Moreover, neither suspect has any ties to Utah, and both Allen and Powell appear “to be making a career out of fraudulently obtaining money by use of re encoded cards.” The officer then requested that both women be held without bail. The request was approved last week and the pair will remain in jail pending their bail reduction hearings.

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, 2022, all rights reserved.

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