$20K bail set for man accused of credit card fraud

The Superior Court has imposed a $20,000 cash bail on a man accused of using another individual’s credit card to rack up over $6,000 worth of unauthorized purchases.

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho recently imposed a $20,000 cash bail on Steven Roman Tudela, who was arrested last week after he was tagged by a local business of allegedly using a stolen credit card to make unauthorized purchases.

Tudela, 28, is facing charges of theft and misuse of a financial instrument after making unauthorized transactions in the total amount of $6,990.85 starting in October 2022 on a credit card that was reported missing.

After the hearing, Tudela was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections and was ordered to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 4 at 10am. He will be arraigned on Jan. 9 at 10am.

According to the police report, a man told his wife last Oct. 9, 2022, that his wallet was missing after a visit to his mother’s residence. The couple looked everywhere but they could not find the wallet and thought it was misplaced.

They then went on a family vacation to Japan and returned to Saipan on Oct. 15, 2022. At this time, the wife resumed her search for her husband’s wallet, which contained three bank cards, two credit cards, and cash amounting to $1,000. Unfortunately, they still could not find the wallet.

Later, the wife said that when she checked online, she found multiple transactions on one of the credit cards on Saipan while they were still in Japan.

She told police that they hired a private investigator who obtained footage from a surveillance camera of a store where one of the credit cards was used.

The footage showed a man, later identified as Tudela. The couple told police that they knew Tudela.

The husband told police that Tudela, who is his brother’s stepson, was not authorized to use his credit card to purchase anything. He said it was not the first time Tudela stole from him.

Police said they are also investigating other unauthorized transactions made by Tudela at other business establishments between November and December 2022.

According to police reports, Tudela used the stolen credit card at multiple gas stations, jewelry shops, multiple restaurants, electronic shops, supermarkets, and multiple gift shops.