Nine people, including two women who were employed as cashiers, have been charged with stealing roughly $30,000 from the Austell International Farmers Market over a six-month period.
According to arrest warrants obtained July 3 by the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, 19-year-old Israa Mohamedeh Ayyad “conspired” with eight other people to apply $23,244.36 in refunds to 16 different credit cards from November 2018 to April of this year. Ayyad, of Marietta, allegedly used her cashier login information at the farmers market to make 146 fraudulent refunds, the arrest warrant states.
Another cashier, Mia Morgan Walker of Marietta, is accused of using her register login to issue 39 fake credit card refunds totaling $6,910 to 16 different credit cards during the same time frame, the sheriff’s office alleges in the warrant issued for her arrest.
Morgan and Ayyad are both charged with one count each of computer theft and theft by deception greater than $1,500, both of which are felonies. Ayyad was booked into the Cobb County Jail July 5 and was released. Walker has not turned herself in to the sheriff’s office, Cobb jail records show.
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Two other alleged co-conspirators — Lytzy Ivet Herrea, 18, of Powder Springs, and 19-year-old Noemi Ramirez of Marietta — were also charged with felony theft by deception. Herrea allegedly applied 13 fraudulent credit card refunds totaling $1,792 to her personal debit and credit cards. Ramirez allegedly committed the same act by applying 17 refunds totaling $2,876 to her personal credit/debit card, according to arrest warrants.
Five of the defendants are charged with misdemeanor theft by deception for allegedly defrauding the farmers market of money ranging from $367 to $756, as outlined in arrest warrants issued for them: Nesreen Ayyad, 20, of Marietta; Jamie Lopez, 22, of Marietta; Brianna Luis of Smyrna; India Walker of Marietta; and Alberto Perez-Atrian, 21, of Marietta.
Nesreen, Ayyad, Lopez, Ramirez and Atrian were all booked into the Cobb County jail and were released on bond. Luis and India Walker have not turned themselves in to authorities, according to jail records. Herrea remains held on a $2,420 bond.
The Austell International Farmers Market at 3565 Austell Road SW Suite 1033 in Marietta has a variety of food products from local vendors, according to its Facebook page. A call was placed to the Farmers Market, and a person who answered the phone said the manager was not available for comment.
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