Hunter
09/17/20
A Coralville man was taken into custody Wednesday night after allegedly failing to return a woman’s credit card when she ordered at a fast food drive through.
According to police, 24-year-old Jamarius Smith of Holiday Road was working the drive-through at the Wendy’s on Commerce Drive at about 9:15pm when the woman victim went to pay for her order and handed him her credit card. Smith reportedly charged her for the food and then proceeded to talk to her, asking her about her day.
The woman told authorities that Smith never returned her card and she proceeded to head home. At 9:49pm, she was notified that a transaction of $200 was attempted but declined. Shortly after the first attempt, another transaction of $300 was attempted and again declined. Both transactions were addressed to a Cash App with a name associated with Smith. The woman looked up the name on Facebook and identified Smith as the employee working the drive thru earlier. That’s when she called police.
An officer attempted contact with Smith at work but was unsuccessful. Smith contacted the officer by phone and said he wasn’t at work and en route to his residence. When the two spoke in person, Smith said that the woman left the card at the drive-through, and he attempted to flag her down to give the card back but was unsuccessful.
Smith then allegedly said that he took her card and admitted to the cash transfer attempts.
He’s been charged with unauthorized use of a credit card, an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by a prison term of up to two years.