Published: October 23, 2008 12:00 am      

Care worker allegedly took credit card

A 33-year-old at-home care worker has been accused of illegally charging more than $5,000 with a credit card owned by an elderly woman, Otsego County deputies said Wednesday.

Tammy Lynn Hotaling was charged Tuesday with second-degree forgery, a felony, and was being held in Delaware County jail, according to a media release from the Otsego County Sheriff's Office.

An investigation revealed that Hotaling, who was employed by a home-care service agency, stole a credit card from an elderly Davenport resident, using it more than 30 times without her permission to charge purchases of more than $5,100 in Otsego County, deputies said. The investigation was conducted by Otsego and Delaware deputies and investigators and the state Division of Parole.

On Sept. 12, Hotaling was interviewed at the Otsego County Sheriff's Office substation in West Oneonta. She was later arrested by the Delaware County Sheriff's Office investigators on second-degree identity theft, Otsego deputies said. She was arraigned that afternoon in Davenport Town Court and sent to the Delaware County jail on $2,500 bail. The state Division of Parole later issued a warrant for her detainment, the release said.

Deputies had no current address for Hotaling but said she was formerly of Richfield Springs and Utica.

On Tuesday, Hotaling was charged with three counts of second-degree forgery for falsely completing two credit card receipts at the Oneonta Wal-Mart in June and another receipt at the Radio Shack at Southside Mall, Otsego deputies said. She was arraigned in Oneonta Town Court, and though released pending reappearance Nov. 20, was returned to the Delaware County jail, where she is being held on bail and the parole warrant.

If convicted, Hotaling faces up to seven years in prison on each count of forgery, Otsego deputies said.