Roxy's owner stole patron's credit card

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The owner of Roxy's bar in Buffalo has pleaded guilty to charges including grand larceny and petit larceny.

Julia Greenwood, 41, could face a maximum of four years in prison when sentenced in March. News 4 began investigating allegations Greenwood had used a former patron's credit card for personal purchases after the patron inadvertently left her card at the bar and went home last September.

RELATED | Greenwood denied the charges, telling News 4 a cleaning person had found the card and Greenwood had gone on to mistakenly use it, confusing it for her own card

Greenwood now admits she used Sarah Gatti's credit card to make $818 in unauthorized purchases.

"I knew she was doing the wrong thing and I have a moral compass and I wanted to stop her, so it was the right thing to do," Gatti said.

Others came to News 4 with similar complaints about Greenwood, and some even brought documentation. One woman told News 4 that $200 in unauthorized charges were made on her card that had been left overnight at Roxy's. The woman's bank red-flagged those charges, and the woman had to go through the fraud process to have her money returned from Bank of America.

In that case, no charges were pressed against Greenwood, and her attorney denied it ever happened. But when the Erie County District Attorney's Office launched its own investigation into Greenwood's action, it found evidence she committed grand larceny.

Greenwood has now admitted stealing $4,480 from Key Bank by writing "phantom checks" from a Citizen's Bank account and depositing them at Key Bank. She would then draw off the phantom checks.

Gatti said, "Everyone's pretty happy that she's finally been reprimanded."