New York man charged with using Pennsylvania woman’s credit card; Unauthorized charge call leads to arrest

Published 8:09 am Thursday, October 11, 2018

Tamek Nelson Skinner, 24, of New York, New York, was charged on Tuesday in Mower County District Court with felony financial transaction card fraud-use without consent.

Tamek Nelson Skinner, 24

According to the court complaint, police were called at 7:51 a.m. on Saturday to an Austin hotel after an employee said he received a call from a Pennsylvania woman who reported an unauthorized purchase had been made on her credit card at the hotel. Officers found that the room the card was used to purchase was booked in Skinner’s name.

Email newsletter signup

The employee said Skinner had checked in at 1:20 a.m. and had provided a State of New York driver’s license as identification, the complaint states. He said Skinner originally used a MasterCard with his name on it, but there was no chip and the magnetic strip did not work. When he manually entered the numbers, the card was declined. Skinner than produced a second MasterCard, which also had no chip and a non-functioning magnetic strip, but was approved when the employee manually entered the numbers. A total of $424.65 was charged to the card.

Law enforcement agents went to Skinner’s room and found him with an adult female, the complaint states. When asked about the credit card used to pay for the room, Skinner said his “boy” got the room and left; however, a review of the surveillance video showed Skinner as the person who paid for the room with the credit card.

The complaint states that Skinner has several prior criminal convictions and is wanted on a warrant in Arizona.

Skinner will appear in court again on Oct. 22.