CEDAR CITY, Utah, Nov. 7, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — An employee of a Cedar City hotel has been booked into jail on suspicion of using credit card numbers belonging to hotel guests.
The girlfriend of Devon David Gajnos, 27, allegedly booked a two-night stay for herself and Gajnos at the hotel in late October. The initial card was declined, his probable cause statement says, so a second card number was used.
“After Devon checked out on 10/27/2022, the employee saw the second card showed a closed account and notified them it was possibly fraudulent,” Gajnos’ probable cause statement says.
“The employee working the morning of 10/27/2022 texted Devon about the outstanding balance. Devon, over the phone, gave the employee a third debit/credit card number,” the statement says.
“The transaction of the third card was approved; however, the manager’s suspicion was piqued. The manager looked at the second and the third credit/debit card numbers and found they belonged to previous customers.”
The manager refunded the $288.15 back to the owner of the third card, the statement says. The attempt to fraudulently use the second card was made when Gajnos was the only employee logged into the system, the police statement says.
Cedar City police learned that Gajnos had been booked into the Iron County jail on an unrelated charge, and went to him, read him his Miranda rights, and interviewed him, the statement says.
“At first, Devon denied he used someone else’s card, but when confronted with the information, Devon admitted to using two credit/debit cards to pay for the room. Devon said his girlfriend made the reservation, and the initial card was either his or his girlfriend’s card. But the card declined. He then used a card from the hotel computer system to pay for the two nights.
“When his co-worker called him about the outstanding balance, he gave his co-worker the number from the third card. Devon advised he had the sticky note with the credit/debit card number he had written down and still had in his possession.”
Gajnos was arrested on suspicion of:
- Two counts of acquisition/possession/transfer of a financial card, a third-degree felony
- Two counts of unlawful use of a financial transaction card, a class B misdemeanor
He was ordered held without bail.
It was not immediately clear whether Gajnos’ girlfriend faces potential charges.
