COLTON FAUGHN
SALINE CO.— A Harrisburg woman already serving two probation sentences and who owes thousands of dollars in unpaid fines and fees has been charged with felony identity theft.
What makes the case unique is that if the woman’s boyfriend had not busted her out to police, she may have gotten away with it.
Whether or not his parole status had anything to do with his decision to turn her in or if he was just tired of her is unknown.
According to reports, on February 11 officer Nick Keltner was advised by dispatch that Wendell D. Cooper, 61, had contacted authorities about his wallet being stolen.
Cooper told police the last time he had seen his wallet was at 5 p.m. the night before in his vehicle and that it contained $18 to $20 and several credit cards.
He told officers that he had been staying at 711 West Poplar Street with family and that approximately 9 a.m. he went to his car and saw the wallet was missing.
Cooper said he had no idea who would have taken his wallet.
Four days later, Feb. 15, officer Keltner was contacted at 8 a.m. and informed by fellow officers that during one of their investigations they discovered that Cooper’s credit card had been used at the Poplar
JANET BAIZE
Street Huck’s.
When viewed, police say that the video surveillance from Huck’s showed Janet R. Baize, 23, of 7 South Shaw St., Harrisburg, using Cooper’s card to purchase $145 worth of cigarettes.
When brought in for questioning and after being read her rights, Baize said that she simply found Cooper’s prepaid card on the ground along with Cooper’s business cards and two crumpled dollar bills.
Baize said when she called to activate the card she learned there was $200 on it.
When asked, Baize said she didn’t have any of the business cards but that the Visa card was under her bed.
Keltner transported Baize back to her residence to get the card but once there she said she couldn’t find it.
Baize was left at her residence.
A short time later Keltner was contacted later by Colton Travis Faughn, 28.
Readers may remember Faughn from his June 7, 2016 conviction for felony Domestic Battery after he threw his injured girlfriend, identified as Heather Hoffman, out the door of the trailer they shared when she expressed an interest in being taken to an area hospital because she had injured her ankle.
Faughn further made a name for himself when he earned a conviction February 23, 2016 for felony Theft when he stole a disabled elderly woman’s power chair.
He was sentenced in that case to probation for 30 months and ordered to pay $5,321 in fees, of which he still owes $5,211.
So it is unclear whether or not Faughn sought to help authorities because he is a nice guy, was worried more about his probation status than he was his girlfriend or if he just likes being a snitch.
Whatever the case, when Faughn, identifying himself as Baize’s boyfriend, made contact with Keltner at the sheriff’s department, he brought with him some of Cooper’s business cards, the Visa card Miss Baize ‘said’ she had looked for and then apparently proceeded to inform the officer where the items had been.
Keltner returned to Baize’s residence and took her into custody on a charge of Aggravated Identity Theft.
At the time of her most recent arrest Baize was already serving a probation sentence of 30 months, handed her May 31, 2016, following a conviction for Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine.
In addition to the probation sentence, Baize was ordered to pay $6,190.12 of which she still owes $6,095.12.
She was also serving a probation sentence of 12 months in a separate case, handed her September 1, 2016, after she was found guilty of Domestic Battery.
She still owes $2,037 in fines and fees from that case.
No bond information was available in the case.