Woman who worked at a fast-food restaurant and a man booked in a skimming operation which captured information from customers’ debit and credit cards; Involves numerous victims and thousands of dollars

Frank Tate, booked with illegal possession of scanning devices to skim information from others.

Ashley Spears, fast-food worker booked with using a skimmer to steal debit and credit card information from customers at a Chalmette restaurant.

A woman who worked a drive-through window at a Chalmette fast-food restaurant and a man she knows were booked Friday in a skimming operation which captured information from customers’ debit and credit cards, which was used to drain bank accounts, Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

“It involves numerous victims and thousands of dollars’’ taken from bank accounts using the information that was placed on skimmers, which are small hand-held devices.

One skimmer was found in the arrested woman’s purse and a second one at the home of the arrested man when St. Bernard sheriff’s detectives located them, Sheriff Pohlmann said. The information leading to the arrests came from banks whose customers were defrauded and the restaurant which cooperated after being informed their employee was a suspect, he said.

Ashley Spears, 20, who was living with a relative on Juno Drive in Chalmette, and Frank Tate, 29, also living on Juno Drive, were arrested and booked into St. Bernard Parish Prison.

The sheriff said Spears, while working the drive-through window of the fast-food business, allegedly was using a skimmer she kept with her to capture customers’ information when they used credit or debit cards to pay for purchases.

Spears was booked with 29 counts of violating a state anti-skimming law which prohibits use of the devices to steal debit or credit information; with unauthorized use of access cards and with identity theft, all felonies.

Tate was booked with possession of a scanning device used for skimming debit or credit information from others and he still faces other possible charges as the investigation continues, Sheriff Pohlmnann said. Other suspects in the case are also under investigation, he said.

Sheriff Pohlmann said anyone who believes they may be a victim of credit or debit card fraudulent activity based on unauthorized charges should report it to their bank and law enforcement.

The U.S. Secret Service, which investigates such fraud, has been made aware of the case, the sheriff said.