Lake Co. woman charged with stealing credit cards

Vernon Hills police have arrested a woman using stolen credit cards from victims spanning nearly the entire country.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Scott Turk said Aida Higginbotham, 32, of Antioch was using credit cards bearing the numbers of real accounts held by people in Pennsylvania and California.

Turk said a woman in Leechburg, Pa., contacted Vernon Hills police after seeing her credit card account had been used at two department stores in the village in early February.

A second report of unusual credit card activity came in from a man in Monterey Park, Calif., who also had purchases in Vernon Hills charged to his account.

Police were able to identify Higginbotham from sales records and video recordings of the transactions, Turk said, and went to question her late last week.

When police arrived at her residence in the 900 block of Robin Court, Turk said, they found 70 to 80 bags of merchandise from various stores inside the home.

Police are attempting to determine if any of that merchandise, which was purchased at stores throughout Lake County, was bought with stolen cards.

Turk said police also found several other credit cards inside Higginbotham's house that were of questionable origin, and she told police she had purchased them from someone in Lisle.

Higginbotham has been charged with unlawful use of a credit card and theft, both carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

She appeared before Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak on Saturday, and Potkonjak ordered her held on $350,000 bond.