CROSS LANES, WV (LOOTPRESS) – One woman has been arrested after stealing an Oklahoma man’s credit card information and then booking a hotel in Kanawha County.
According to the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Deputy H.K. Burdette was contacted by a resident of Oklahoma wishing to file a report of credit card fraud.
The out-of-state resident had received an email regarding suspicious activity where his card had been used to book a hotel room at the Holiday Inn in Cross Lanes.
Deputy Burdette was provided with the room confirmation number and went to the Holiday Inn to investigate. The manager had already spoken to the cardholder from Oklahoma and was familiar with the details of the scheme.
The manager told deputies the room was registered to Mariah Young and provided a description of her and her room number. Deputies went to the room, but they were unable to locate Young.
As deputies were leaving the hotel, a U-Haul truck pulled into the parking lot with a female matching the suspect description given by the hotel manager.
Deputies spoke with the female, and she was identified as Mariah Young 30-years-old of Charleston. She immediately expressed the statement “I did not book the room, my friend did”.
Deputy Burdette placed Mariah Young under arrest for obtaining money, property, and services by false pretenses; West Virginia State Code §61-03-24(d).
If convicted, Young would be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than ten years, or, in the discretion of the court, be confined in jail not more than one year and be fined not more than $2,500.
Young is currently being held at South Central Regional Jail on a $1,500.00 cash bond.
The KCSO says that Mariah Young is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
