A Key Colony Beach woman and a Marathon man are facing multiple charges after they were recorded on camera using a stolen credit card.
Tanya Jean Rego, 31, is charged with grand theft and three counts of illegal use of a credit card. Austin Robert Nichols, 31, is charged with grand theft and four counts of illegal use of a credit card.
On Sept. 18, the victim met with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to report a number of unauthorized charges to his Bealls credit card. According to the victim, he lent his card to a friend, but they were arrested on unrelated charges, and the victim forgot about his card until he received his statement in the mail.
The statement showed nine unauthorized charges between Aug. 20 and Sept. 3 for a sum total of $2,315.23. Seven transactions were conducted at the Bealls in Marathon, and the other two occurred at the Bealls in Florida City.
Deputies started an investigation and met with a Bealls loss prevention manager, who provided security footage of the various transactions. The videos revealed Nichols and Rego making the purchases, as well as several unidentified people. Rego was not present for some of the transactions.
Nichols and Rego were arrested together on unrelated charges prior to the warrant for the theft and fraud charges being issued, and body camera footage from their arrest showed numerous Bealls shopping bags in the room where they were initially arrested.
An interview with the friend of the victim revealed that she had associated with Nichols and Rego a few days prior to the arrest. She stated she didn’t give them the card and that she wasn’t sure how they got it, but said it was possible they could have taken the card unbeknownst to her.
Nichols and Rego were already in jail at the Monroe County Detention Center following their arrest on Aug. 23, where Rego was charged with robbery and resisting arrest with violence. Nichols was charged with drug possession and probation violation.
Information in the Crime Report is obtained from reports provided by area law enforcement agencies.
If you have information that could help solve a crime in the Florida Keys, call Crime Stoppers, 800-346-TIPS.