The undergraduate student arrested by Hanover Police last Thursday for fraudulent use of a credit card is suspected of having spent approximately $10,000 using a Dartmouth student's credit card number, according to an affidavit written by Detective Eric Bates and obtained by The Dartmouth. The student made fraudulent purchases at Hanover stores including JuliAna boutique, Mai Thai restaurant and Everything But Anchovies restaurant, as well as at Scoop NYC, a designer boutique in New York, N.Y., according to the affidavit.
The student, Isabella Mezzatesta a Wheaton College student who was participating in an exchange program at Dartmouth was arrested at Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority's physical plant on April 21 on a misdemeanor charge.
While the fraudulent use of a credit card for property or services valued under $1,000 is considered a misdemeanor, fraudulent purchases over $1,500 classify as a Class A felony, according to Hanover Police Chief Nicholas Giaccone. A Class A felony is punishable by seven to 15 years in prison in addition to a $4,000 fine, Giaccone said.
Giaccone declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
The stolen credit card number belonged to Bridgette Taylor '13, a member of Kappa, and was registered to Taylor's parents. On April 18, Taylor reported to Hanover Police that someone had made unauthorized purchases with her credit card, and that the fraud had been ongoing "for a couple of months," according to the affidavit.
Taylor and her parents declined to comment. Taylor is a member of The Dartmouth Staff.
Mezzatesta was released on $2,000 bail on April 21. The conditions of her bail stipulated that she must stay at least 100 yards away from Taylor and refrain from contacting Taylor in any way, according to the bail record. Mezzatesta also agreed to reside at her home in Manhattan and to "return at any time" to New Hampshire when "duly instructed" by the Lebanon District Court.
Mezzatesta is scheduled to appear in court on May 23.
According to the affidavit, a $761 charge was made at JuliAna on April 9 using Taylor's credit card number. Bates later obtained receipts and security camera footage confirming that Mezzatesta made the fraudulent purchase, the affidavit stated.
On the afternoon of April 9, Mezzatesta went to JuliAna and put several items on hold, according to the affidavit. Mezzatesta left the store for a one-hour period and returned at 5 p.m. She tried on "several articles of clothing" for approximately 30 minutes before purchasing the items, which included two Amanda Uprichard dresses, a Left on Houston sweater, a Myne blouse and a Beyond Yoga tank top, according to the affidavit.
Mezzatesta purchased the items by providing the cashier, Grace Best '13, with Taylor's credit card number, which Mezzatesta said was her mother's. Mezzatesta is suspected of storing the card number in her cellphone, according to the affidavit.
Best and a manager at JuliAna declined to comment.
Nicole Maffeo '13, a member of Kappa, was shopping with Mezzatesta at the time of the alleged fraud, according to the affidavit.
"Izzy portrayed herself to me and to her other friends as coming from wealthy parents and that she was using her father's credit card," Maffeo said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "None of us suspected otherwise until her arrest."
Mezzatesta made 16 purchases with Taylor's credit card number at Scoop, where she was a regular shopper with a store account, according to the affidavit. Mezzatesta allegedly purchased a number of high-priced items, including an Alexander Wang sweater, a Burberry jacket and a Helmut Lang tank top, from the store's Upper East Side location.
Scoop's Upper East Side store manager declined to comment.
Mezzatesta mailed some of the items purchased at Scoop to the Kappa house her residence at the College under the name Izzy Karnell, according to the affidavit. There are no students with the name Karnell listed in the Dartmouth Name Directory.
Mai Thai's manager, Fommay Vorachak, said Mezzatesta made a total of three fraudulent purchases at Mai Thai, with the first charge on Feb. 23 and the last on April 6. The total charges amounted to $100.97, Vorachak said.
Mezzatesta allegedly used Taylor's card twice at EBAs, according to EBAs manager Mark Tuthill.
Ed Bogosian, another EBAs manager, said that although this was not the first time fraudulent charges had been made at the restaurant, it was unusual for a Dartmouth student to have committed the crime.
The affidavit states that Mezzatesta has been the "suspect of thefts" from various members of Kappa.
"In one instance, a sweater that went missing from one of the KKG sisters was observed on Miss Mezzatesta's bed," the affidavit said. "Miss Mezzatesta apparently denied having stolen the item when confronted."
Kappa president Neera Chatterjee '12 said she could not comment on Mezzatesta's current membership status in the sorority.
"Membership is subject to our organization's guidelines," Chatterjee said. "All standards proceedings are an internal matter."
Kappa's national bylaws state that each member must be a matriculated student at her chapter's university. Mezzatesta is a Wheaton College student participating in the Twelve College Exchange program, according to Lee Williams, the vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Wheaton.
Williams said Mezzatesta is still "in good standing" at Wheaton and is expected to return to the college when her exchange is complete. Williams made no reference to Mezzatesta's recent arrest.
Mezzatesta and Bates did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
