NEW ORLEANS, March 24 (UPI) -- A waitress at a restaurant in New Orleans' French Quarter has been charged with using a skimmer to harvest credit card numbers.
Jaleesa Jimerson, who worked at Bubba Gump Seafood Co., faces 216 criminal counts for crimes that include possessing fraudulent documents and using the skimmer, The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans reported Tuesday.
Jimerson allegedly told police that she got the skimmer from a couple who paid her $220. She said that they returned twice to the restaurant to get the skimmer.
During Jimerson's court hearing last Friday, the judge and others in the courtroom seemed taken aback by the number of charges she faces compared to the paltry sum she allegedly received for her crimes, the newspaper said.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry. Even if I was being generous, the number of charges against you," Judge Gerard Hansen said, setting bail at $5,000 per count or nearly $1.1 million.
The investigation began police received complaints about stolen credit card information and detectives realized all had eaten at Bubba Gump's. Investigators say that when they went to the restaurant, Jimerson dashed to the bathroom, saying she had forgotten to shut off the water and they later found a skimmer hidden under a sink, The Times-Picayune report said.
