"Store Owner Charged with Fraudulently Using
Customers Credit Card"
On July 8th, 2008 Nagamani Eluri (35) of Duluth, GA was
arrested for nine counts of financial transaction card fraud. Mrs.
Eluri and her husband, are the owners of the Citgo convenience store
business, located on the property and building owned by John Ariemma
at the intersection of Ben Higgins Rd. and Auraria Rd. In June a
customer accidentally left her credit card in the store. Records
indicated several purchases had been fraudulently made in the same
Dahlonega store and five charges were made at three separate locations
which included Quick Trip, Atlanta Imports and the Islamic Food Store
- Alpharetta Halal.
The business owner would not cooperate with providing investigators
with documentation and video surveillance during the course of the
investigation. Investigators obtained a search warrant for the
store and executed it on July 7th, 2008. During the
search investigators obtained signed receipts from the transactions,
daily transaction journal logs, and video surveillance which depicted
Mrs. Eluri using the card.
Mrs. Eluri told investigators that she had mistakenly used the
wrong card as she routinely keeps cash from customers on fuel
purchases and uses the corporate card to complete the transactions.
Mrs. Eluri was seen on the store surveillance system placing cash
received from a customer into her pocket and then swiping the stolen
credit card.
Mrs. Eluri was released on July 9th, 2008 on a $45,100
bond.
Captain Jason Stover
Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office
