February 24,2009
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News: Crossing that Madison County Line.
Down in ‘Ole Miss', two thieves from Jackson crossed the line by stealing a credit card profile belonging to a Madison County resident from a local business (Hudson's). They wasted no time in their credit card foray and went on-line to charge what they could. Although stupidity is not a crime, it certainly seemed to play a role here. The two women charged the credit card with things like expensive jewelry and apparel and accessories, like a Dooney and Burke purse. The one major oversight was to give Williams' address for delivery. What were they thinking?
Caught and apprehended, both Sharina Webley (age 49) and Laterrio Williams (age 52) were arrested and prosecuted in Madison County Circuit Court. The charge was "conspiracy in a scheme to obtain goods by the fraudulent use of a credit card". In detail, the two each, pled guilty to:
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One count: Fraudulent use of a credit card to obtain goods through the Internet;
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One count: Conspiracy to commit credit card fraud.
Judge Chapman presiding, sentenced both Laterrio Williams and Sharina Webley to three years jail time, but having three years suspended. Supervised probation for three years was also ordered. The 3-year jail term was for the credit card fraud. In addition to the sentencing, they are each required to pay:
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$2,400 plus court costs;
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$1,000 fine to the Child Victims' Compensation Fund;
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$250 to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Attorney General's Office.
This case was investigated and prosecuted by the Attorney General's Cyber Crime Unit. Attorney General Jim Hood was quoted in saying: "These people were brought to justice thanks to an alert consumer who worked with his bank to stop fraudulent activity on his credit card and who reported the crimes to our office."
Compared to the billions of dollars stolen by the credit card black market, this is a petty crime committed by two people with compromised integrity but, perhaps, by publicizing the story, perhaps it will serve as warning to someone else reading this article.
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