Restaurant Worker Pleads Guilty in Credit Card Scheme
Faces up to 30 years in prison for skimming nearly 90 credit cards
Saturday, Jul 31, 2010 | Updated 11:31 PM EDT
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NEW YORK - MAY 20: In this photo illustration, major U.S. credit cards are seen on May 20, 2009 in New York City. In new landmark credit card legislation, the United States Senate has voted 90 to 5 to pass a bill that would restrict credit card issuers' ability to further raise interest rates and charge fees. Known as the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act, or Credit CARD Act, the new rules would force companies to post their credit rules on the internet and provide cardholders with a written statement explaining pending interest-rate hikes 45 days in advance. (Photo Illustration by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A D.C. restaurant server accused of organizing a scheme to steal patrons’ credit card information pled guilty to the charge Friday.
Nicole Lakesha Ward, 28, is charged with conspiring to commit bank fraud.
Ward admits to targeting customers at The Cheesecake Factory at 5345 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., in Friendship Heights where she waited on tables.
In the summer of 2008, Ward paid two other servers she had recruited at the restaurant to help her in the scheme. Using credit card skimming devices, the three were able to collect nearly 90 credit card numbers by March 2009.
Ward’s co-conspirator took the scheme to the next level, according to court documents. Gabriel Camara encoded the stolen credit card numbers onto other cards. He then used the cards to buy items in Virginia and other states. Camara was arrested on June 9, 2010.
Ward faces up to 30 years behind bars for bank fraud. She will be sentenced on October 29.
