A Bristol woman has been charged with offenses relating to theft, forgery and overall deception.
The investigation into credit card fraud thought to be perpetrated by Michelle Marie Collins, 47, began on January 10, when Middletown officers responded to a Veterans Highway 7-Eleven for a report of credit card fraud, court papers state.
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Upon arrival, officers met with the victim, who claimed that his credit card was used by someone to buy a carton of cigarettes at about 3:30 a.m. on January 10. The victim said that he had spent the night at his girlfriend’s apartment with Collins on the previous night, police said.
Collins, according to police documents, waited until the victim was asleep and then slipped his credit card out of his wallet, returning it stealthily before he awoke.
The victim’s girlfriend indicated that she also had a number of unexplained financial incidents and indicated that around the same time as the alleged credit card fraud, two of her checks were removed and used to take a total of $500 from the victim, court papers read.
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When the female victim confronted Collins, she initially deflected blame but eventually admitted guilt, police said.
In addition, there was video footage of Collins using the male victim’s credit card to purchase cigarettes at 3:30 in the morning, police said.
Collins was charged with with two felony forgery charges, a misdemeanor of using a device where she had no authorization, two theft misdemeanors and two receiving stolen property misdemeanors. Collins’ bail was been set at 10 percent of $35,000 during arraignment before District Judge Daniel Baranoski.
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
