Ghanaian women charged with credit card fraud

NATICK — Two women who police said were caught on video last week using a lost credit card to buy two purses worth more than $3,000 turned themselves in yesterday.

Naa Amartey, 33, of Westborough, and Rosemary Cooper Badu, 49, of Worcester, both went to the Natick Police Department with their lawyers, police spokesman Lt. Brian Grassey said.


Grassey said the two women are the same women seen using a credit card that was either lost or stolen at South Shore Plaza in Braintree last week at a Natick Collection store on Wednesday.


The two women are seen buying the two purses, valued at $3,090, and then leaving the store. The women then tried to use the card at another store, but it was declined, Grassey said.


Even though the women turned themselves in, Grassey said investigators had received several tips, based on the video, of suspects' identities.

"I'm assuming the pressure of the exposure and the number of calls we received was the impetus of them coming to us," said Grassey. "I had a great number of pages of information on these two individuals on my desk. Several people had recognized them based on the video."


Amartey, of 147 Milk St., and Badu, of 46 Outlook Drive, were both charged with receiving a lost credit card, credit card fraud of more than $250, identity fraud, forgery and attempting to commit a crime.


Both pleaded not guilty at their Natick District Court arraignments yesterday and were released without bail. They are both due back in court on June 25 for a pretrial conference.


(Norman Miller can be reached at nmiller@cnc.com.)