Two suspects were charged with taking more than $5,800 from one suspect’s 85-year-old grandfather after allegedly stealing his debit card twice.
Richard Lee Dawson, 39 and Melissa Ann Alderman, 32, both of Chehalis, were each charged Monday in Lewis County Superior Court with first-degree theft and unlawful factoring of a credit card. Superior Court Judge James Lawler granted each $10,000 unsecured bail.
“I haven’t been in any trouble since I was 17 years old,” Alderman told the court Friday.
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Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer commented that Alderman’s has a “surprising” lack of criminal history, and asked Lawler to impose the unsecured bail amount. However, Meyer asked for $5,000 cash or bond for Dawson, citing recent warrants and a pending district court case.
“He doesn’t have a whole lot of criminal history, but what he does have shows he’s not a good candidate to reappear,” he said. Regardless of Meyer’s concern, Lawler again imposed unsecured bail.
Both defendants are scheduled to make their next court appearances on Thursday.
On June 29, a Lewis County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a report of a theft in which Dawson and Alderman were identified as suspects.
The alleged victim, an 85-year-old man, is Dawson’s grandfather, according to court documents. Because the man normally only uses checks for financial transactions, his bank alerted him when his several large transactions were made using his debit card, according to court documents.
The victim’s debit card was canceled on June 12, and a new debit card was issued along with a new pin number.
While the victim told investigators he never received the new card, it was activated on June 27, according to court documents, and numerous transactions were made using the new card. The victim told deputies none of the debit purchases were authorized by him.
Investigators obtained documents, bank statements and surveillance footage, which reportedly showed Alderman using the debit card to make cash withdrawals in June at banks and businesses, according to court documents.
In total, 29 transactions were made using the stolen debit cards for a total amount of $5,842.
Alderman was arrested at 2:05 p.m. on Friday. She reported told deputies that she used the debit card with the alleged victim’s knowledge most of the time, but admitted she and Dawson occasionally used it for themselves. She said Dawson was with her for every transaction, according to court documents.
Dawson was arrested at 8:02 p.m. on Friday, and told deputies the alleged victim gave him permission to use the card a few times, but said all of the other transactions were not approved, according to court documents.
Each was originally arrested by the Sheriff’s Office on on suspicion of two counts of second-degree theft and 11 counts of second-degree identity theft.
