Woman arrested in Georgia for involvement in Mississippi ATV fraud scheme
Published 6:37 am Wednesday, September 4, 2019
A Mississippi woman wanted in connection with a scheme that used fraudulent credit cards to purchase ATVs and sell them to unsuspecting buyers was arrested early Tuesday morning in Forsyth County, Georgia, Adams County officials said.
Tira Blanton-Holmes was captured at approximately 3 a.m. in a home in Cummings, Georgia, when Forsyth County, Georgia, deputies served a search warrant on the residence for another suspect in an unrelated crime, said Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten.
“She was in the house,” Patten said, adding the Georgia deputies discovered Blanton-Holmes was wanted in Adams County for felony false pretense and took her into custody.
Blanton-Holmes was one of three suspects in the scams that occurred at different businesses in Natchez in April in which suspects allegedly purchased ATVs with stolen credit cards and sold them to unsuspecting buyers.
A fourth suspect was later cleared of charges, Patten said.
Two suspects, Veronica McMorris and Joyce Rose Myles, were arrested shortly after the incidents occurred in April.
Adams County officials had been searching for Blanton-Holmes since April.
McMorris allegedly purchased two four-wheelers valued at approximately $9,400 using a credit card that was later reported as stolen, Adams County Sheriff’s officials said at the time.
Blanton-Holmes allegedly purchased a four-wheeler for approximately $8,000, officials said, and it was later learned the credit card number used to make the purchase was fraudulent.
Patten said he is happy Blanton-Holmes is in custody.
“We work hard to get any crime solved and false pretense is no different,” Patten said, adding many people consider false pretense a white-collar crime. “We are happy to get this last suspect captured.”
Patten said Blanton-Holmes will have a hearing in court in Forsyth County, Georgia, and will have an option to sign papers to be returned to Adams County.
If she does not sign the extradition papers, Adams County will work with the state governments of Georgia and Mississippi to facilitate her return, Patten said.
