Co-owner of Pahrump salon charged with fraud

The co-owner of a long time Pahrump nail salon is facing fraud and burglary charges after she was arrested for allegedly using a customer’s credit card information for purchases at Walmart.

Unauthorized transactions

As stated in a Nye County Sheriff’s office arrest report, on Sept. 18, Deputy Jim Ruelas took a report regarding unauthorized transactions and a missing Chase Bank debit card from a woman who told Ruelas that there were several transactions on her account that she did not authorize.

“There were three unauthorized transactions with a total combined amount of $604.84,” according to Ruelas’ report. “One of the transactions was at Walmart for the amount of $317.13 on April 1, of this year.”

Store camera footage

On April 16, Ruelas made contact with a Walmart asset protection employee, who managed to secure surveillance footage of the transaction.

“In the footage, I observed a white female adult with red hair walk up to the register with a cart full of groceries” Ruelas said in the arrest report. “The female paid for the groceries and walked out of the store where she got into a white Dodge Ram pickup truck, but I could not get a license plate number due to the quality of the surveillance footage.”

It was later confirmed that the missing debit card was used in the transaction by way of the store’s sales receipt, which provided the last four numbers on the debit card.

Similar case, different deputy

On Sept. 15, Deputy David Stone advised Ruelas of a similar case involving the same female and vehicle in Ruelas’ case.

Stone identified the suspect as Ladene Fletcher, who was arrested that day for allegedly entering one of her customer’s vehicle and taking a credit card which was used at different locations around town, according to the report.

“On Sept. 18, I conducted a follow-up investigation with the victim, who stated that on March 31, she had a haircut appointment at 4 p.m. with Ladene Fletcher, co-owner of the At Your Fingertips salon in Pahrump,” Ruelas’ report noted. “The victim stated that she paid cash for the appointment that day. She also stated that the first transactions occurred on the night of March 31.

At approximately 11:07 p.m., on Sept. 18, Deputy Ruelas made contact with Fletcher, who was then taken into custody after being questioned.

Fletcher, according to the report, told deputies that she gave the card to a Walmart customer service representative.

Additional information from suspect

“I then asked Ladene if there were more cards that she had taken from people, to which she replied, ‘yes’,” according to the report. “I asked Ladene if she had taken more cards from people that we were unaware of, and she also stated ‘yes’.”

When asked to identify those people, Fletcher requested an attorney, according to the report.

Fletcher was charged with fraudulent use of a debit card by using the victim’s card without her permission.

Fletcher is also charged with burglary by entering a business to commit petit larceny by making purchases with a debit card that did not belong to her.

Fletcher was booked in the Nye County Detention Center in $8,000 bail.

On Thursday afternoon the Pahrump Valley Times contacted the salon, where a staff member declined to comment on the matter.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes