A Covington woman is being accused of stealing her landlord's credit card and making purchases totaling over $1,000.
Tammy Case, 44, is facing at least 10 charges, including six counts of financial transaction card fraud, two counts of financial transaction card theft and two counts of first-degree forgery, for the alleged offense.
The Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating all the purchases that were made, so more charges are possible, says RCSO Cpl. Michael Camp.
Transaction records for the card show that purchases were made at a number of local stores in Conyers, including Target, Walmart, Kroger’s, Dollar General and Big Lots, according to the deputy’s incident report. Records also show that purchases were made to pay a $55 Metro PCS phone bill for an account in Case’s name and about $132 was paid to Newton County for Case’s probation fees.
The 68-year-old victim first made a report for identity theft on Dec. 17. In November, he received a transaction statement for a Capital One credit card that he applied for but had yet to receive in the mail, according to the incident report.
He called the credit card company to inform them about the situation. The company then canceled the card and told him they would send a new card. In December, he once again received statement from the company for transactions made in the Conyers area without having received the next card.
Case had been living at the victim's residence in the 1900 block of Old Parker Road for about six weeks prior to the report being filed. The victim began to suspect Case was stealing his cards after Capital One called Metro PCS and the phone company advised Capital One that someone made a payment towards an account with Case’s cell phone number.
“Prior to Tammy moving in, (the victim) haven't had any problems with someone using his identity,” the deputy wrote in the report. “He made it clear to me that he didn't want to accuse her, however, there are too many signs that points to Tammy.”
The victim allowed Case to stay at the residence because a mutual friend of theirs said she needed a place to stay.
“Tammy was down on her luck and came to stay with this guy,” said Camp. “It was supposed to be a temporary thing.”
Case was on probation out of Newton County for methamphetamine use, according to Camp.
She was arrested on Jan. 2 and is still in Rockdale County Jail.
