Woman Charged with Check and Credit Fraud 10 Times Since October

EAST GREENWICH, RI—A 21-year-old woman already with a growing list of check and credit card fraud arrests has been charged after passing a bad check at Back to Basics in East Greenwich.

Police arrested Hailey C. Gardella, 21, of Warwick, on July 8 for allegedly writing a check for $92.77 to the natural foods store in May.

According to a police report, the store owner said that the store normally doesn’t accept out-of-state checks but a new employee was working when Gardella presented a check from a Massachusetts bank.

The check ended up returned for insufficient funds, plus a $20 returned check fee.

Police said that Gardella has been arrested by police for check fraud in Bristol, Warren, Pawtucket and Warwick since October of last year.

Court records show Gardella was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to complete 20 hours of community service after pleading no contest to check fraud charges filed by Bristol police in December.

Before obtaining a warrant for her arrest, East Greenwich police noticed that there were two pending warrants from other police departments for similar crimes, including new charges out of Bristol.

Gardella appeared in court on Monday and pleaded no contest to the East Greenwich charges. She was ordered to pay restitution and was sentenced to one day of probation and one day in prison, suspended.

Other charges filed Pawtucket, Providence and Bristol police are still pending in court.