Rome woman charged with using stolen credit cards

A 29-year-old Rome woman is facing several charges after she allegedly used a stolen credit card to purchase cigarettes at Walmart earlier this month, New Hartford police said. 
Scarlet Gies was charged Thursday with fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and second-degree forgery, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor petit larceny, Officer Shane Yoxall said. 
According to police, Gies entered the Walmart store in Consumer Square on Sept. 3 and attempted to purchase two carts of Newport cigarettes using three different credit cards, Yoxall said. Gies was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap. 
After the first two credit cards were declined, Gies then used a third card to complete the transaction, Yoxall said. When Gies left the store, the Walmart employee followed Gies into the parking lot and wrote down her vehicle’s license plate number. The employee then reported the suspicious incident to New Hartford police.
Following a joint investigation by the New Hartford police, Rome police, and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, it was later determined that the credit card Gies used to buy the cigarettes had been stolen earlier that day from a vehicle in the outer district of Rome, Yoxall said. 
Gies was arraigned and released, and she is due to appear in New Hartford Town Court on Oct. 1 to answer the charges.