Waitress who stole credit card information gets probation
Daily News Wire Services

A waitress who stole credit card information from customers at a West Los Angeles restaurant has been sentenced to five years probation and fined about $3,000.

April DuBoise, 29, used a "wedge" -- a small skimming device that reads and stores data from a credit card for downloading to a computer -- over a 1 1/2-month period while working in early 2006 at the Hamburger Hamlet restaurant at 2927 Sepulveda Blvd. in West Los Angeles.

DuBoise, who had no previous criminal record, sold the information to an unidentified man, resulting in unauthorized charges being made on credit cards, according to former City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

She was initially charged with misdemeanors but eventually pleaded no contest to 34 felony counts of identity theft and credit card fraud, according to Deputy District Attorney James Toro.

Prosecutors had estimated losses of around $28,000, but in court papers filed Thursday, Toro said that figure "appears to be a gross underestimation of the true damage caused by the defendant."  According to the director of operations for the Hamlet Restaurant Group, the case received nationwide publicity, forcing the Hamburger Hamlet to close due to lack of business, costing 50 employees their jobs.