A 19-year-old employee at the World Equestrian Center’s general store was arrested after several fraudulent credit card transactions totaling $15,000 were discovered.
On Tuesday, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office corporal responded to the World Equestrian Center in Ocala in reference to an incident of fraud.
Upon arrival, a member of WEC’s security team advised the corporal that an employee, Makenna Lorine Elizabeth Hill, had fraudulently charged a total of $15,000 on three Mastercard credit cards belonging to former customers.
The security team member advised that the three credit cards were each charged $5,000 and a refund was then issued to a separate Visa card which was entered by Hill. The former customers had contacted WEC after they received notifications regarding fraudulent activity on their accounts.
When confronted by the security team member, Hill admitted to completing the transactions and advised that she had been given the instructions on how to complete the transactions by a former WEC employee.
The corporal made contact with Hill, and she stated that she was having money trouble. She claimed that a former WEC employee had told her that she would receive $2,000 if she completed five fraudulent transactions involving Mastercard credit cards. She stated that when she had located the three customers who had paid with a Mastercard in WEC’s computer system, she charged those Mastercard accounts $5,000 each, and she refunded the money to a different account.
Hill told the corporal that she knew she was taking money and that it was against the law. She was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where she is currently being held on $2,000 bond. She is facing a felony charge for fraud (obtaining property under $20,000).
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.