State
of Florida
Office of the State Attorney
16th Judicial Circuit
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Office of the State Attorney 16th Judicial Circuit
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Criminal Justice System Overview Employment Opportunities |
March 24, 2005 Last November, investigators from State Attorney Mark Kohl’s office arrested a Key West man for having written 37 bad checks. They predicted that more worthless paper passed by Brian Robert Johnson would turn up. They were right. Johnson, 41, already in jail, was charged with nine additional counts of theft with bad checks in December. What investigators did not know then was that Johnson’s alleged crime spree included credit card fraud – and it included his girlfriend. Late last year the couple racked up more than $3,600 in fraudulent credit card charges the State Attorney’s office says. State Attorney investigators arrested Anne S. Holland, 54, of Olivia Street in Key West last Monday, March 21 on charges of felony credit card fraud and being an accessory to Johnson’s credit card fraud. Meanwhile, felony credit card fraud has been added to the stack of charges against her boyfriend. Holland’s arrest affidavit reads as a cautionary tale for anyone using a credit card over the telephone. In September, 2004 a South Carolina man called an Eaton Street guesthouse to reserve a room for himself and his wife that November. He gave his credit card information to “a manager named Anne” to secure the reservation, according to the affidavit. A few days before the couple made it to Key West, however, they were surprised to see in an online credit card statement more than $3,000 charged to the card in Key West – well above the $161 they paid as a room deposit. Most of the erroneous charges to the card were from Key West guesthouses, in fact – just not the guesthouse where the visiting couple had reserved. In October and November, Holland and Johnson allegedly checked into three different Key West guesthouses using the stolen credit card number. They stayed nearly a month at one guesthouse before moving on to two others. Johnson is also accused of using the stolen credit card number to pay a Stock Island business for a cellular phone he had previously bought with a worthless check that had bounced. He even covered the five dollar bank fee for returned checks with the stolen card. Johnson used the stolen card to pay for satellite television services. He later allegedly paid a collection agency for Holland’s overdue phone bill with the same credit card. The bogus charges ultimately totaled $3,641.68. “Unfortunately, we were not surprised to find more financial fraud from Johnson,” said Chief Investigator Paul Meyers. “This certainly will not be the last we see of check and credit card fraud, either from this pair or from other criminals.” Myers urged individuals who believe they have been defrauded on financial matters to contact the State Attorney’s office immediately. The telephone number of State Attorney Mark Kohl’s office in Key West is 292-3400. |
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Last modified:
10/23/07
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