FBI involved after couple is arrested for multi-state credit card fraud, package theft in Cedar City

Stock photo, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A Las Vegas couple is in jail on more than 30 felony charges each after police responded to a Cedar City hotel for unruly guests Saturday evening and walked into an alleged fake credit card manufacturing operation.

Ashley Huddy, 23, of Las Vegas, Nev., booking photo taken in Iron County, Utah, Dec. 8, 2019 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Ashley Huddy, 23, and Lance Dominique Mann, 29, both of Las Vegas, each face 37 third-degree felony counts, including 15 counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card, 21 counts of identity fraud and one count of possession of a forgery device, along with two misdemeanor drug charges.

The charges stem from an incident Saturday evening in which officers responded to the La Quinta Inn in Cedar City after reports of drug use and guests who were being “problematic” to other guests, according to the probable cause statements filed in support of the arrests.

When the suspect, later identified as Mann, opened the door, officers were confronted with the smell of marijuana from inside of the room. Drugs in the room were also in plain view of the officers, police say.

Both Mann and Huddy were detained by police while a search warrant was requested and obtained. During a search of the room, police allegedly found “several hundred credit cards and ID cards under different names,” the statement said.

Lance Dominique Mann, 29, of Las Vegas, Nev., booking photo taken in Iron County, Utah, Dec. 8, 2019 | Photo courtesy of the Iron County Sheriff’s office, St. George News

Officers also found blank credit cards ready to be stamped, along with a credit card imprinting machine used to print account information on the cards. They also located what appeared to be methamphetamine and marijuana.

The pair were arrested while detectives were called in to process the scene for evidence and recover the cards and equipment.

Huddy is also a suspect in an unrelated investigation that began Friday when officers were dispatched to a reported mail theft involving UPS packages that were taken from a number of homes in the Cedar City area.

Video surveillance showed a woman with dark hair grabbing several recently delivered packages from the porch of a residence and then running to a silver SUV. While detectives were interviewing Huddy on the credit card incident, they told her they caught her on video allegedly taking the packages.

Fake IDs and credit card manufacturing equipment found in the La Quinta Inn following an arrest in Cedar City, Dec. 7, 2019 | Photo courtesy of the Cedar City Police Department, St. George News

At that point the suspect admitted to taking the packages, police say, and told officers they would find them inside of the vehicle that had been impounded after her arrest. Officers then submitted one misdemeanor mail theft charge to the Iron County Attorney’s Office for review.

The FBI was also contacted by Cedar City detectives over the weekend on the alleged credit card fraud. On Monday, the FBI confirmed that their office will be handling the investigation going forward since the operation stretches beyond Southern Utah, Cedar City Police Sgt. Clint Pollock told St. George News.

Mann and Huddy are suspected of similar crimes reported in California, and possibly other states as well.

Pollock said once the FBI concludes its investigation the suspects will be indicted in federal court and the state charges will be dismissed.

Both Mann and Huddy are being held in the Iron County Jail without bail while the FBI investigation moves forward.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2019, all rights reserved.

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