FROM STAFF REPORTS

BIRMINGHAM – On Friday, March 31, a federal grand jury indicted a former hotel desk clerk on fraud and identity theft charges for unauthorized use of a customer’s bankcard, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.

A four-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Tiffiany Lashawn Hall, 40, of Birmingham, with three counts of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. The indictment also includes notice that the government will seek a longer sentence, of up to 10 years, if Hall is convicted because the criminal acts occurred while she was on supervised release after serving time on a 2007 conviction in federal court.

Hall worked as a front desk clerk at a hotel on Pelham Parkway in Pelham in October 2013. While at work on Oct. 11, 2013, Hall obtained a Regions Bank card belonging to a hotel customer identified in the indictment as P.T.

Without authorization, Hall used the card for purchases at Walmart, Piggly Wiggly and Beauty Masters, according to the indictment. She also used the card to withdraw funds from P.T.’s Regions account. The multiple transactions totaled more than $3,000.

The indictment charges Hall with three wire fraud counts for separate bankcard purchases made at Walmart on Montclair Road in Birmingham. The indictment charges Hall with aggravated identity theft for using the bankcard, a means of identification of P.T., in relation to the wire fraud.

The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The penalty for aggravated identity theft is a minimum of two years in prison, which must be served after completion of any other sentence imposed for an associated crime, and a maximum $250,000 fine.

U.S. Secret Service investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamarra Matthews Johnson is prosecuting.

An indictment includes only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.