Second woman arrested in credit card theft

A second woman was arrested in connection with fraudulently using a credit card at Safeway in Waipouli on May 7.

Maurlene Leoni Gaspar, 37, of Kapa’a, was arrested May 9 at about 8:48 a.m. after a store manager called police May 7 about the suspicious nature of the purchases, which included gift cards and higher-priced makeup and food items.

It was found that the credit card was stolen from a hotel room nearby. The victim, a visitor from San Diego, has since returned to California. According to her, none of the other stolen items , including her checkbook, have yet been recovered, and that the room was burglarized while she was sleeping.

Recently, the general manager of another Kapa’a hotel called TGI to say that a woman named Kim Naholoholo was a guest for a few nights and attempted to extend the rental for a week using a credit card issued to a person whose name did not match hers.

Before refusing the sale, the manager made a copy of the credit card and called police, who referred him to the issuing bank.

Naholoholo and Gaspar both face numerous felony charges in other cases that are related to identity theft, credit card theft, credit card fraud and theft.

Police detectives were not immediately available to comment on the case. This story will be updated with details about identity theft, as well as statistics on credit card fraud and theft in Kaua’i County.