Winchester Police arrested 54-year old Betty Stidham Wednesday morning at her home for using fraudulent credit cards. Police say the woman had five credit cards with her name on them, that had other people's stolen account numbers.
Detective Danny Thomas says Stidham got in contact with man online a couple of months ago. He allegedly promised her money in exchange for her buying things and shipping them to various people across Africa. Police say Stidham told them the man she had never met was her fiance.
Stidham told 27 NEWSFIRST after her arrest that she should not have been involved, but felt she was conned into participating. Stidham's children say their mother is the victim. Trina Combs says she and her brother and sister warned their mother that this could be illegal and not what she thought it was. But, they say she fell for the man she never met and thought they were going to get married.
Police say the credit cards sent to her had balances well into the thousands of dollars. She used them to buy mostly electronics over the internet that she would then send overseas. Police say she received checks in return. Many of those checks, however, were counterfeit.
The Secret Service is now investigating who Stidham sent the electronics to and what they may have intended to use them for.