(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Ten people from Northwest Indiana have been charged in a scheme that involved stealing credit card numbers from customers at a fast food restaurant and using the money to get people out of jail, authorities say.
The press release from the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office says “OPERATION HARD-EEZ” has served up 20 felony counts.
The operation began to unravel, officials say, when a commander at the jail became suspicious about money being put into detainees’ accounts from an outside source.
An investigation uncovered a fraud scheme involving employees of the Hardee’s fast-food restaurant in Michigan City. The Sheriff’s office says the workers were taking pictures of credit cards that customers were using at the drive-up window over the past two months.
They then used the cards to put money into the jail accounts, and detainees used the money to post bail.
Detainees also cashed out the remaining funds from the jail accounts once they were out, police said.
They’re back in now, and so are the Hardees employees who allegedly aided them.
The Sheriff’s Office says scheme involved about $15,000 in fraudulent charges.
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