HOLLIDAYSBURG - A borough couple and their son have been charged in a scheme that scammed a 95-year-old woman out of thousands of dollars by using her personal information to obtain credit cards, police said Friday.
The father and son, David and Andrew Resa, were arrested Nov. 21 and Tuesday, respectively. A warrant has been issued for Gina Resa's arrest.
Gina Resa, 47, was the housekeeper for Dorothy B. Moore of Hollidaysburg, who died Sept. 7, police said. She is charged with 47 counts, including access device fraud, conspiracy, forgery and identity theft.
Moore was the mother of Debra K. Trenkle, 58, also of Hollidaysburg, who died Aug. 13 after an incident at a Claysburg garage; Trenkle's death remains under investigation, authorities said.
The Resas were Moore's neighbors before moving to Logan Boulevard, police said.
Gina Resa did some good things for Moore, such as taking her places, but police said she started stealing from Moore in March - around the same time a caregiver quit taking care of the woman.
Gina Resa opened three credit card accounts under Moore's name and racked up more than $18,000 in debt, police said.
She also forged checks from the prior caregiver's checking account when she was asked to care for that woman's finances.
The father and son had lesser roles in the scheme.
Andrew Resa deposited two checks into his account that were intended to pay for Moore's hearing aid. Moore's son had sent the money for the device, writing the checks in Andrew's name, Lingafelt said.
Some of the funds were used to pay a car debt David Resa owed to a Delaware title company. Car repairs and water bills also were paid with the money, Lingafelt said.
This is not the first time Gina Resa has been accused of a credit card scam.
She was arrested by Hollidaysburg police in September on a warrant from Washington state. Court documents state she used credit card information from a woman to pay the airfare for a youth basketball trip from Portland, Ore., to Las Vegas in 2005.
David Resa coached the basketball team, and he and his wife set up the tournament trip. They were to deposit all the money they received for the trip into a team bank account.
The day before the trip, Gina Resa said she discovered a problem with the credit card and the bank account, court documents state.
One of the parents then gave Resa her credit card information, according to Resa, but the parent later reported fraudulent activity on her credit card for the airline tickets.
Gina Resa was extradited from Blair County to Washington in October and released on signature bond, according to a criminal record check.
She also has a criminal history in California, based on an identification number listed on a Washington court document, but no information was available Friday.
David Resa was lodged in Blair County Prison Friday in lieu of 10 percent of $150,000 bail. Andrew Resa was freed on $150,000 unsecured bail. Preliminary hearings for the men are scheduled Dec. 9 before Magisterial District Judge Paula Aigner.
Gina Resa's whereabouts were unknown as of Friday night.
