Woman jailed for computer fraud
Published 8:16 am Tuesday, May 5, 2015
A Buchanan woman was ordered to spend the next few months in jail after she was caught paying her electric bill using another person’s online banking account.
Gloria Ann Lewis, 60, was sentenced Monday in Berrien County Trial Court to 120 days in jail and three years of probation. She pleaded guilty earlier to one count of attempted computer fraud, accessing more than $1,000 but less than $20,000.
Lewis was apologetic in court, saying she did not have permission to use the victim’s bank account information.
“What I did was wrong,” she said.
According to court documents, the victim — an 86-year-old man — told police that Lewis had used his bank account to pay her electric bill for the past 13 months, from September 2013 to December of 2014.
The victim told police Lewis had worked for him in the past and may have gotten his information at that time.
Lewis, however, told police a different story.
According to court documents, Lewis said she and the victim had been in a dating relationship for the past couple years and that the victim had willingly paid her electric bill.
The victim denied that he and Lewis had been dating and that he was willingly paying her bills.
Lewis took more than $2,500 from the victim’s account and was ordered to pay restitution of that amount with nearly $2,000 going to the victim and the rest going to the bank.
Judge Dennis Wiley also ordered that Lewis not be allowed to work a job that gives her access to other people’s money or possessions.
Also Monday, Joseph Dean Williams, 22, of Niles, was ordered to serve 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to violating terms of his probation. In December, Williams was sentenced to 45 days in jail and two years of probation on one count of home invasion in the third degree. Williams pleaded guilty Monday to violating the terms of his probation by not paying court-assessed costs on time and by being in possession of marijuana.
Wiley ruled that Williams would continue his probation, but have to serve an additional 180 days in jail and 90 days on tether.