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Card thief ran up a $1,068 bill

A spending spree on a stolen credit card landed a 25-year-old Sandys man in Magistrates’ Court.A Butterfield Bank credit card belonging to Elizabeth Arnold was discovered taken from the Olympic Club gym, on Dundonald Street, Hamilton, at 6pm on October 22.The card was immediately used at Arnold’s Express supermarket on Church Street, followed by Flanagan’s restaurant and bar on Front Street.Germiko Williams admitted to using forged sales receipts to buy liquor and cigarettes, including a $371 drinks tab at Flanagan’s.Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner listed a total of 25 offences based on forged receipts, which continued through October 23 at the Maximart supermarket in Sandys. All involved cigarettes and liquor, and occasionally phone credit.The court heard from Crown counsel Cindy Clarke that police were called to the Maximart when an employee grew suspicious.The employee gave a description of Williams which included a tattoo on his neck. Police proceeded to Fairhaven Lane in Sandys, where Williams was arrested based on that description.Taken to Somerset police station, he admitted on October 24 to using the card, which he said he had found in the road.However, the card owner eventually found 60 unauthorised transactions on her account, at liquor stores, supermarkets and Flanagan’s, totalling $1,068, and Williams was arrested again on December 23.He maintained that he had found the card on Fairhaven Lane.In court, however, Williams pleaded guilty to all 26 counts, including stealing the card.He further admitted to missing a November 18 trial date on a charge of stealing a laptop computer from a house on Tribe Road Number Six, Sandys, to which he pleaded not guilty.Williams also had an outstanding fine of $500 from September 9 for using offensive words.Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner ordered a social inquiry report and remanded Williams into custody until his February 18 trial.