Authorities have dropped a felony charge against a woman who was arrested after she used her boyfriend’s credit card to tip a waitress at a Florida restaurant $5,000.
Serina Wolfe, 24, had been held on a $1,000 bond after she was arrested for making the unauthorized charge in June at a waterfront restaurant in Clearwater, in apparent retaliation for her then boyfriend’s refusal to buy her an airline ticket.
Recent court documents revealed prosecutors decided to drop the grand theft charge against her saying, ‘the facts and circumstances revealed do not warrant prosecution at this time,’ reports The Smoking Gun.
The former boyfriend, Micahel Crane, 29, had initially reported the fraud, saying that the two had quarreled and that Wolfe was ‘drunk or trying to get back at him.’
Serina Wolfe, 24,(above) had been held on a $1,000 bond after she was arrested for making the unauthorized charge in June at a waterfront restaurant in Clearwater.
Wolfe was alleged to have used her ex-boyfriend’s Gold Savor Capital One credit card to leave a $5,000 tip for a waitress who was serving her meal on June 27, according to a Pinellas County Florida complaint signed against her by cops
Wolfe, who is from Buffalo, New York, was vacationing with Crane when he claimed an argument ensued about her ‘wanting a flight home to New York,’ according to Smoking Gun.
That’s when she sought revenge, according to authorities, and used Crane’s card to make the incredibly generous tip.
She has been charged with grand theft and ordered by a judge to have no contact with Crane, who is also from New York state.
However, according to a prosecutor who spoke to Smoking Gun, Crane, who is now her ex-boyfriend, couldn’t get himself to proceed with her prosecution.
DailyMail.com’s attempts to reach Wolfe and Crane were unsuccessful.
Crane had put a hold on his credit card to prevent the airline ticket purchase, but claims he had already released it when Wolfe used the card to pay for her $55.37 tab just before 9:30 p.m. on June 27th at the Clear Sky Beachside Café.
Wolfe was alleged to have also used the Gold Savor Capital One credit card to leave the $5,000 tip for a waitress who was serving her meal that night, according to a Pinellas County Florida complaint signed against her by cops.
Wolfe’s tab on June 27 at the Clear Sky Beachside Café (above) was $55.37. She is alleged to have paid the bill and left her waitress a hefty $5,000 tip, which she was not allowed to pocket after the fraud was detected
The Pinellas County, Florida, complaint that was signed by cops against Wolfe after she made the unauthorized credit card transaction to pay a waitress a $5,000 tip
When Crane detected the fraud, he contacted police to say he suspected Wolfe was responsible for the unauthorized charge.
Clear Sky had already paid the server the $5,000 when the restaurant was notified on July 1 that the payment had been reported as fraudulent. Wolfe was arrested that same day and the waitress was not allowed to keep the hefty tip.
After being read her Miranda rights, which include a warning that ‘anything you say can and will be use against you in a court of law, Wolfe ‘voluntarily handed [the arresting officer] the card ‘and said this is the one I used to pay the $5055.37 tab,’ the arresting affidavit read.
Crane, in addition to dropping the charges against his now former girlfriend, made sure the waitress wasn’t left empty handed, giving her a $300 tip.
Wolfe, however, wasn’t completely out of trouble.
A few days after her arrest, according to Smoking Gun, the woman was again busted in Clearwater for having an open container of alcohol. A drunken Wolfe, according to cops, was walking with an open Bud Light Orange beer and fined $118.