Surveillance photos of theft suspects checking out at the Oneonta Wal-Mart published by The Daily Star last week helped lead to the arrest of four people on felony charges, according to the Otsego County Sheriff's Office.
Three Davenport men and a woman from Saratoga Springs were arrested beginning last Thursday and culminating a week later.
Several surveillance photographs taken at Wal-Mart at about 11:30 p.m. Jan. 8 showed a man and a woman using one of the credit cards stolen from a Maryland woman's vehicle earlier that night at Schenevus Central School, deputies said. Stolen cards were also used at two gas stations on state Route 23 on Southside Oneonta and in Davenport on Jan. 9, deputies said.
Within two days of the surveillance photos' publication on The Daily Star website and on the same day a photo was published in the print edition, deputies made their first arrest in the case.
Steven M. Nolin, 23, was charged March 6 with second-degree forgery, a felony, and petit larceny, a misdemeanor, for using the credit card and signing the credit-card holder's name on a charge slip, deputies said.
Deputies later recovered property from Nolin's car and home that was purchased with the card, they said in a media release Thursday.
Magen L. Marrott, 20, a former resident of the area, was interviewed March 7 at her Saratoga home, and a cell phone purchased with one of the stolen cards was recovered, deputies said. She turned herself into deputies Thursday at Oneonta Town Court and was charged with second-degree forgery and petit larceny.
On Monday, Michael R. Walters, 21, and Charles W. Zimmerman IV, 22, were arrested and charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, for stealing the cards.
They were also charged with petit larceny for stealing the purse that contained the cards, deputies said. They were also charged with third-degree criminal mischief, a felony, for causing more than $250 in damage to the vehicle, deputies said.
State police at Oneonta assisted deputies in making those arrests. The pair were also charged for allegedly stealing a credit card from a second vehicle parked at Southside Mall earlier in January.
All four were released on their own recognizance. Nolin and Marrott are to appear April 10 in Oneonta Town Court for further action.
Walters and Zimmerman are to appear March 25 in Maryland Town Court.
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