Kelly Gholston
NUTLEY –
A 26-year-old Brooklyn woman has been arrested and charged with forgery, fraudulent use of credit cards, theft and possession of multiple fraudulent credit cards [13 counts in all] after she allegedly used fraudulent credit cards to purchase more than $15,000 in gift cards from stores in Nutley and elsewhere, the Nutley Police Department said last week.
The investigation into the woman’s activities began after a local merchant told police Kelly Gholston had come to his store over the last few months to buy the gift cards, which are normally sold for more than $500 each, police said.
Police said they then put out a notice to their officers — as well as to law-enforcement agencies outside the township — and an alert storeowner on Passaic Ave. noticed Gholston when she tried to make a similar purchase last week.
Officers Mathew Murphy and Sean Swift were the first to arrive at to the store to detain Gholston on June 24, police said, and when detectives arrived, and questioned Gholston, police said they reportedly found that Gholston had 10 fraudulently made credit cards on her when they searched her.
Police said she told them the cards had numbers on them from stolen credit cards that were later artificially placed on to laminate cards that had her name on them.
Police said it is possible there may be other fraud cases they’re not yet aware of involving the suspect.
The lead detective on the case was Tom Parada, who works under Det. Sgt. Anthony Montanari, who also serves as the department’s public information officer.
Police Chief Thomas Strumolo and Mayor Al Petracco both commended the members of the department who were able to track Gholston down.
Be sure to check www.TheObserver.com and future issues of The Observer for updates to this developing story.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.