WESTFIELD – One of the problems facing users of stolen credit cards which would seem to be manageable would be remembering not to attempt to pay a debt to the owner of a stolen credit card with the credit card stolen from him.
Allegedly, one Westfield woman found that chore too much of a challenge when she attempted to pay her bar tab at a local watering hole.
City police report that the manager of a downtown bar called police at 7:39 p.m. Monday to report that a customer had attempted to use a stolen credit card and Officer Sean Smith responded.
Smith reports that the manager said that the female customer had presented one of the bartenders with a credit card to pay her bar bill and the bartender realized that she had given him his own credit card – which he had not known had been stolen.
The bartender said that he didn’t know his credit card had been stolen until the woman handed it to him and said that he customarily leaves his jacket in an area which is accessible to customers. He said that the credit card had been in his wallet which was in a pocket of his coat.
The manager told Smith that he confronted the woman – about both her unpaid tab and the stolen card – but she was able to exit the bar and flee.
However, the manager recorded the registration number of the vehicle in which she fled and Smith showed the bartender a Registry of Motor Vehicles picture of the registered owner who was identified as the suspect.
The bartender also said that, in keeping with the bar’s policy, he had both scanned the woman’s license and showed it to his manager when the 29-year-old woman ordered alcohol.
Smith sought the registered owner at her Leonard Avenue address but he reports that there was no answer at the door. He did, however, see someone peeking through the window blinds, he reports.
Criminal complaints were filed for larceny of a credit card, using a stolen credit card and for fraudulently obtaining food from a restaurant.
