Two cases involving stolen, forged credit cards results in three arrests

Three Sacramento area women were arrested Saturday in two separate cases involving stolen credit cards, fraud and forgery. Carson City Sheriff’s Office investigators are trying to determine if the cases are related, said Lt. Brian Humphrey.

In the first arrest, officers recovered stolen credit cards, equipment to make credit cards, as well as stolen checks from victims in Douglas County and Sacramento, according to the arrest report.

Taken into custody at 9:08 a.m. Saturday was Bao Xiong, 29. She faces five felony charges including two counts possession of stolen property, possession of incomplete credit cards, credit card forgery, possession of forgery lab for unlawful acts, and gross misdemeanor conspiracy to commit forgery. Bail: $100,000 plus a GPS device to be secured on the woman when she makes bail.

According to the arrest report, the woman had been staying at a hotel in the 3800 block of South Carson Street and had been inside a casino. Security from the casino contacted Carson City sheriff’s deputies because the woman and a male with her were suspected in a fraud case last month at the casino. When security confronted the pair about the incident, the two left, with the man driving off and the woman found walking at the intersection of South Carson and Spooner Junction.

Officers made contact with the woman and asked her about a black bag purse she had around her neck and a gray wallet in her hands. The woman said the only items in the black bag purse that belonged to her was a pink purse. Inside the purse officers found several $100 bills, and several credit cards and gift cards that had no names on them and several blank credit cards with only the black stripe on the back, the arrest report states.

Inside a black wallet in the purse were several credit cards that belong to a woman that wasn’t the suspect. Officers asked suspect Xiong who the credit cards belonged to. The suspect told officers a “friend.”

Officers looked through the purse and found several credit cards with the so-called friend’s name on the cards. Plus a check with a woman’s name on it written to another woman in the amount of $1,000. The check was reported stolen from the victim during a vehicle burglary report to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 26, 2015.

The suspect would not answer questions about who the checks and cards belong to, the arrest report states. While officers spoke with the suspect, they continued to find more credit cards without names stuffed inside both purses.

When officers were speaking with the suspect, they learned she was staying at a hotel room in the 3800 block of South Carson Street. The woman told one of the deputies there was a machine in the hotel room to make credit cards. She said she rented the room in her name, which was confirmed at the front desk.

Officers secured a search warrant for the room and began contacting what turned out to be victims of stolen checks and credit cards. Officers found several credit cards that were cut into several pieces and several empty packages of new credit cards, plus a machine that makes credit cards, the arrest report states.

While searching officers found a luggage bag with a check book belonging to a Sacramento woman, plus a metal tin that contained several prepaid gift cards and credit cards. Credit cards were also found in the hotel room bathroom.

Bao Xiong was arrested and booked into Carson City jail with the GPS device added to her bail. A fifth felony charge was added Sunday, possessing financial forgery lab for unlawful acts.

A few hours later, two Sacramento area women were arrested on felony charges of credit card fraud, possession of stolen cards, and misdemeanor drug possession. Arrested were Kacey Moore and Javarrah Elizabeth Gillespie, both 29, after a traffic stop of their rental car. The arrest happened at 8:31 p.m. in the area of Topsy and Highway 395.

According to the arrest report, at around 7:35 p.m. Saturday an officer was dispatched to the Office Depot at 22 Fairview Drive for a fraud report. Office Depot staff called the police and stated two female adults entered the store and were purchasing gift cards. They completed a transaction and were leaving the area. The women were possibly involved in a fraudulent transaction in Reno at another Office Depot location, the arrest report states.

A deputy obtained the vehicle description and license plate for the vehicle that left southbound on Carson Street. The vehicle was a white 2015 Buck Lacrosse. Officers found the vehicle near the intersection of Colorado Street and Carson Street and paced the vehicle speeding more than 10 miles per hour.

The driver of the vehicle, Kacey Moore, continued to drive the No. 1 southbound lane on Carson Street. She passed Clearview Lane, Spooner Junction and Old Clear Creek Drive. The officer had his emergency lights activated the entire time and sounded his siren.

Due to the behavior of the driver, the officer conducted a high risk stop with the assistance of another deputy as well as several Nevada Highway Patrol troopers. Officers detained Kacey Moore and the passenger, Javarrah Gillespie, placing them into separate patrol vehicles.

The officer went to the vehicle and smelled a strong odor of marijuana from inside the vehicle. The officer conducted an exterior search with K9 Ivo, in which the dog alerted to the presence of a drug odor inside the vehicle. The officer allowed the dog to conduct and interior search, pursuant to the exterior alert. The dog alerted to the presence of drug odor on the center console and passenger seat floorboard.

Officers read Moore her Miranda Rights and she agreed to speak. She was asked why it took so long for her to stop. She admitted to using a cell phone while driving and claimed she didn’t see the officer. The officer asked about the smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle. She admitted that both she and the passenger had marijuana in the vehicle and was adamant that she was not part of any fraud, the arrest report states.

Officers spoke to the passenger, Gillespie, informed her of her Miranda rights which she invoked her rights and did not speak with the officer. Officers checked both of the women’s criminal histories and both had several convictions for not following legal conditions and failure to appear.

Both were arrested. During a vehicle search officers found approximately 1 gram of marijuana in a purple jar in Moore’s purse and 1 gram in the purse of Gillespie. Also found was a small baggie of marijuana concealed in the center console trim of Moore’s side of the vehicle align with approximately 20 blank credit cards.

Moore had a VISA card belonging to the name of another woman, in her purse. Gillespie had a debit card belonging to another woman in her purse. Neither of these people were present. Officers later asked Moore, at jail, if she could give the officer any contact information for the two women from the credit cards, to confirm two two had permission to have the cards and use them. Moore and Gillespie provided telephone numbers. Neither party who answered the phone were the card holders and did not know the names of suspects Gillespie and Moore.

Moore was in possession of approximately 20 forged cards. Gillespie was in possession of 15 forged credit cards. Officers determined the cards were forged because the cards were originally flat-faced gift VISA and MasterCards (without embossed numbers or names) that were forged and embossed with credit card numbers.

The forged credit cards had Kacey and Javarrah’s name embossed on them as well. Several of the cards had embossing marks and emery file marks on them, indicating they were originally embossed but then altered. Furthermore, the card series numbers (flat number written under the first four embossed numbers) did not match the embossed numbers on many of the cards. Based on the officers training, these are trademarks of forged credit cards.

Based on the electronic nature of these crimes, each of Moore’s and Gillespie’s two cell phones were seized. Moore was in possession of $800 in cash. Officers found several receipts in Moore’s purse pointing to ATM withdraws on one of the credit cards. Deputies seized the cash and booked it into evidence. The women’s California licenses were also booked into evidence. The women were taken to jail and their vehicle towed.

Moore faces the following charges: Possession of credit card without consent and forgery of a credit card, both felonies. There are five misdemeanor charges including possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, use of a cell phone wile driving, speeding, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. Bail: $17,195.

Gillespie faces the following charges: possession of a credit card without consent, and forgery of credit card, both felonies, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $16,814.