On April 19, 2017 the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Division was contacted by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Southside Police Department in Alabama, and the Alabama State Attorney General’s Office in reference to assisting with a multi-jurisdictional credit card skimmer case. A suspect involved in the case was believed to be living in Macon at 1728 Wren Avenue.
Warrants for the arrest of 29 year old Janique Crafter were obtained by the State of Alabama for theft of property and identity theft. An investigation by these agencies in Alabama and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation had been previously launched in reference to credit card skimmers being placed on gas station pumps, resulting in the theft of credit card numbers and fraudulently obtaining over $60,000.00 in customer and bank funds. During the investigation it was discovered that a vehicle used by a suspect in the incident was operating a vehicle with a tag number that came back to a rental company. Information on this rental of the vehicle showed that the car came back to Crafter. Surveillance video from businesses showed a black female who appeared to be Crafter.
Investigators with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Property Crimes Division located the address also for Crafter that came back as 1728 Wren Avenue in Macon. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the address on April 19, 2017. The search warrant was executed by members of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Property Crimes Division, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Special Agents from the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. Several pieces of evidence were recovered from the address relating to the crimes of financial transaction card fraud forgery and identity fraud. Janique Crafter was also arrested and transported to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Property Division to be interviewed.
Crafter was charged with financial transaction card fraud, financial identity fraud and she also has a hold for Etowah County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama. She is currently in the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center. The multi-agency investigation is on-going and more arrests are expected.