Women sentenced for using stolen credit cards

Police had charged three Chicago women with misdemeanors back in October when authorities said they tried to use stolen and modified credit cards at a Rolling Meadows Meijer Store.

In December, authorities upgraded the charges against Cassandra Cherry, 39, Tawanda Niles, 28, and Charlotte Gause, 40, to felonies. Thursday in Rolling Meadows' Third Municipal District, the women pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft charges after Cook County prosecutors amended the charges yet again.

Each received one year's conditional discharge. Additionally, they were ordered to perform five days of community service and have no contact with Meijer.

Police say Cherry, of the 8000 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue; Niles, of the 10000 block of South Normal Avenue; and Gause of the 7600 block of South Rhodes Avenue tried to purchase between $120 and $140 worth of merchandise with cards they said they bought at a Chicago beauty parlor.

A sharp-eyed Meijer cashier noticed the numbers imprinted on the credit cards Cherry and Niles tried to use did not match the numbers encoded on the cards' magnetic strips, authorities said. Gause tried to use a gift card reported as stolen, authorities said. Store personnel alerted police who stopped the women as they attempted to leave in their vehicle, authorities said.