DUBOIS – A Brookville woman is facing identity theft charges for allegedly using an ATM card belonging to her home health client.
Jessica Deen Robinson, 38, is charged with three felony counts of identity theft, three felony counts of access device fraud, a misdemeanor count of possessing access device knowing it counterfeit or altered, five misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking, five misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property, two misdemeanor counts of access device issued to another who did not authorize use, a misdemeanor count of forgery and a misdemeanor count of unsworn falsification to authorities.
The charges were filed last week by DuBois City police. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 21.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the 70-year-old victim reported to police in February that someone was using her ATM card without her permission.
Bank records showed that five attempts were made to withdraw money at an ATM in Sykesville on Jan. 23. Three more attempts were then made to use the card at a different ATM in Sykesville.
Later that day, $200 was withdrawn from an ATM in DuBois and a purchase of $42.74 was made at Wal-Mart in Sandy Township with $100 given back as part of the transaction.
On Jan. 28, Jan. 30 and Feb. 13, $500 was withdrawn from an ATM at Sheetz in DuBois, according to the complaint.
The victim supplied police with the information on the transactions and an officer was able to view the surveillance video and allegedly identify Robinson, the victim’s home care provider, as the one withdrawing money.
When Robinson was questioned by police, she stated the victim asked her to withdraw money for her. She provided a copy of a handwritten note in which the victim authorized Robinson to withdraw cash on her behalf. Robinson said she purchased items at Wal-Mart for the victim and the $100 she also received that day was for the victim, she claimed.
Police then spoke again with the victim. She said she received a suspicious phone call Jan. 23 from a person claiming to be from her credit union. This person requested the PIN number for her account. Thinking this was a legitimate call, she gave the caller her number.
The victim sometime later received a suspicious letter from the credit union reminding her of her account number and advising her that she needs to supply this number when she calls customer service. The victim had not called customer service.
After a search warrant for these calls was executed, police discovered that three calls were made to the credit union Jan. 23 from a phone number allegedly belonging to Robinson.
These calls were recorded and when investigators listened to them they learned the caller identified herself as the victim and tried to get the PIN number for the ATM card.
The caller gave the customer service representatives the victim’s name, address, date of birth and social security number, according to police.
A block placed on the card after the numerous attempts to make withdrawals that day was then removed, but they did not give the caller the PIN number.
The victim believes this was just before she received the call from someone claiming to be from the credit union, asking for her PIN number. The first withdrawals were made after the victim supplied the number.
