Two Buellton residents are charged with fraudulent use of a credit card, among other things, after a sheriff’s department investigation. Karen Peterson, 47, and Debra Mangino, 49 were arrested August 6.
Deputies began the investigation in early July when a Buellton resident reported that someone had used a credit card that belonged to him. Deputies learned that the person who opened accounts in Buellton and Lompoc had the victim’s social security number for verification, the sheriff’s department said in a press release.
Use of the credit card led deputies to view surveillance video of a Buellton gas station which showed the suspects using the fraudulently obtained credit card, officials said. At some point the women were neighbors of the victim, stealing his mail to get the personal information that was used in the fraud, according to deputies.
Mangino was released on a $20,000 bond after her arrest; however Peterson was unable to post her bail and remained in custody. The two appeared before Judge James Rigali in Santa Maria on Aug. 8. At that time the judge said he intended to raise the bail amount for Mangino because she had pending charges from an arrest in May for forgery and grand theft.
Mangino asked Judge Rigali for permission to make a call to a bondsman after she heard that her bail was to be raised. Rigali said she could leave the courtroom but had to stay on the courthouse grounds for her phone call. Five minutes later, when her public defender went outside to find Mangino, she had fled.
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