Photos of woman allegedly using stolen credit cards lead to arrest in Cedar City

Stock image | Photo by Chalabala via iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — A Parowan woman was arrested Friday after photos posted on Facebook identified her as the suspect allegedly responsible for using stolen credit card information to make purchases at various stores.

Ashley Ann Braget, 28, of Parowan, booking photo posted in Iron County, Utah, Feb. 15, 2019 | Photo courtesy of Iron County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News / Cedar City News

Ashley Ann Braget, 28, was booked into the Iron County Jail on multiple offenses involving forgery, theft and the unlawful use of a finance card after she turned herself in to Cedar City Police.

Braget’s arrest stems from two unrelated cases that took place in November and December of last year.

In the most recent incident, officers were dispatched Thursday to the Tink’s Superior Auto Parts store in Cedar City to investigate a reported fraud after the store received a call from an individual contesting multiple charges on their credit card.

According to the probable cause statement written in support of the arrest, a white woman with an Hispanic male used “multiple stolen credit card numbers” over the course of six weeks from Nov. 2 through Dec. 23, 2018, to purchase more than $4,000 dollars’ worth of merchandise.

In each instance, store employees told police “they believed it was the same two individuals using the stolen credit card numbers,” according to the statement, which notes that the couple was captured on video recorded inside of the auto parts store.

Images from the video were later posted on Facebook to help identify the individuals. Shortly thereafter, a number of tips came in identifying the white woman as Braget. The Hispanic male she was with has not yet been identified by police.

Investigators connect dots in unrelated case

On Nov. 2, 2018, in a case unrelated to the auto parts store investigation, police were called to Ron’s Sporting Goods on Main Street in Cedar City on report that a stolen credit card was used to purchase a handgun for $980 by a woman later identified as Braget, according to court records. Officers focused on recovering the handgun after they learned that Braget allegedly lied on the background check paperwork she completed prior to the purchase.

Photos show Ashley Braget and a Hispanic male police have yet to identify in connection with alleged credit card fraud. Image captured at Tink’s Superior Auto Parts in Cedar City, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of Cedar City Police Department, St. George News / Cedar City News

Unable to locate the defendant at the time, the case was forwarded to another detective who became aware that Braget was involved in the unrelated incident at the auto parts store and began working with the investigator in that case to locate her. Not long after police posted the images from the auto parts store on Facebook, Braget turned herself in.

Read more: Cedar City Police ask for help identifying man and woman suspected of fraud

When police began to question Braget, court documents indicate she asked for an attorney, and the interview was terminated.

The defendant was arrested and booked into the Iron County Jail on both cases and faces a total of 21 third-degree felony offenses, including 11 counts of unlawful acquisition/possession/transfer of a finance card and 10 counts of forgery. She was also charged with one count of third-degree felony theft and one class A misdemeanor count of theft.

At the time of this report, Braget remains in jail with bail requirements of $15,000.

This report is based on statements from police and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

St. George News reporter Joseph Witham contributed to this report.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.

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