Card theft leads to charges for 3

Published 12:24 am Wednesday, December 3, 2008

One local man bought more than he bargained for during a trip through an Andalusia restaurant’s drive thru Sunday.

Andalusia investigator Sgt. Barney Tyree said the local resident passed through the drive thru Sunday afternoon with the intention of purchasing a meal on the go. After unintentionally leaving his card with the cashier, he ended up accruing close to $100 of additional charges when the cashier and members of her family used the card to make purchases.

“The customer paid for his food with a debit card, which is not uncommon,” Tyree said. “However, his card was not given back to him after the purchase was made.”

Tyree said the employee who completed the transaction, 21-year-old Kristy Lolley of Andalusia, later left the restaurant with the card in her possession and used the card for personal gain.

“After she got off work she used the card to put gas in her vehicle,” Tyree said. “She had made an agreement with her husband to take the card and use it for personal gain. The agreement was what allowed us to also charge her husband for the crime.”

Several small purchases led to the subsequent arrests of Lolley and her husband, 23-year-old Lewis Ray Lolley, on Monday. Kristy Lolley was charged with fraudulent use of a credit/debit card and second-degree theft of property and was held on a $20,000 bond. Lewis Lolley was also charged with second-degree theft of property for his agreement with his wife to obtain the card and he was held on a $10,000 bond.

Tyree said a third family member was charged with fraudulent use of the same card after obtaining it from the couple.

“James Robert Lolley, Lewis’s brother, admitted to using the card for his own personal gain,” Tyree said. “He actually used the individual’s card to purchase minutes for his mobile phone on two occasions.”

James Lolley was also arrested Monday and charged with two counts of fraudulent use of a credit/debit card. He was placed in the Covington County Jail under a $20,000 bond.

Andalusia Police Chief Wilbur Williams said the arrest was expedited by the victim’s diligence in checking for foreign account activity.

“The individual, upon realizing his card was missing, logged onto his account online to check for purchases made,” Williams said. “He identified the presence of purchases made after his card was lost and we were able to use the information to locate the establishment where the theft occurred.”