Police: Employee used customer’s card without permission
Police say a Brown County woman working at a vehicle repair shop used a customer’s credit card to buy extra items at a nearby store without the customer’s permission.
Jessica Crook, 50, of Bean Blossom Trailer Court, was charged on May 27 with fraud, a Level 6 felony.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Horn was dispatched on May 26 to take a report from a woman whose husband had had his car worked on on May 1 and 2, according to a probable cause affidavit.
She said her husband had paid using a credit card. The charge appeared on the card on May 6.
On May 5, the card was used at NAPA Auto Parts — next door to Brown County Tire — for $35.97, the affidavit states.
An employee at NAPA said he remembered the transaction and Cook coming into the store to buy a butane torch and extra can of butane for $35.97. Cook told the NAPA employee that she did not have a debit or credit card on her, but would call him shortly with the card numbers, according to the affidavit.
A few moments later, Cook called back with the card numbers, which were from the victim’s credit card. When the victim’s wife discovered the charge on May 27 she notified the police, the affidavit states.
Horn went to speak Crook at the repair shop on May 26. After being read her rights, she agreed to an interview. She said she remembered the couple in question having work done at the shop. She said she used her phone to photograph their credit card. She also said she remembered buying the torch and the extra can of butane from NAPA on May 5, the police report said.
Crook said she had a photo of her own credit card on her phone and may have gotten the two cards mixed up. When Horn asked to see the photo of her card on her phone, Crook was unable to find it.
Crook was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail.
