Friday, December 05, 2025
32.0°F

Toy-machine thief accused of shopping spree on stolen card

Megan Strickland Daily Inter Lake | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 years, 11 months AGO
by Megan Strickland Daily Inter Lake
| December 19, 2015 4:42 PM

A woman lasted less than a month serving a three-year deferred sentence before she was picked up for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars through credit card fraud.

On Nov. 10, Lisa Janae Komeotis, 21, received a six-month suspended jail sentence for misdemeanor theft after she and two male accomplices were caught on camera stealing a candy and toy vending machine from Super 1 Foods.

At the same hearing, Komeotis was also given a three-year deferred sentence to the Montana Department of Corrections for felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and a six-month suspended jail sentence for misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

That sentence followed a Feb. 15 incident where Komeotis told an officer that she “blacked out” and crashed her vehicle off Bluestone Road. Komeotis had drugs in her possession.

Court documents filed by the Flathead District Attorney’s office this week claim that while Komeotis was awaiting sentencing in those cases, she used a credit card that was not hers.

A man in California reported the card stolen in November and told Flathead County authorities that between $4,000 and $6,000 in charges had been made at Walgreens and Walmart in Kalispell between Oct. 1 and Nov. 4. Surveillance footage identified Komeotis as a suspect.

Komeotis was jailed on Nov. 25. On Dec. 7, she admitted using the stolen card. She is charged with felony deceptive practices and remains in Flathead County Jail.

Komeotis has also asked the Flathead District Court to overturn a misdemeanor conviction handed down by Kalispell Municipal Court earlier this year.

Komeotis was ordered to pay restitution for 50 lighters she stole from a gas station, but her attorney claims that the clerk who identified Komeotis in the case relied too heavily on surveillance footage to identify a suspect.


Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].

ARTICLES BY MEGAN STRICKLAND DAILY INTER LAKE

April 6, 2016 5 a.m.

Bigfork teen sentenced for a string of crimes

A Bigfork teen is headed to boot camp after committing a handful of crimes that include a car chase, writing bad checks, going on a burglary spree and stealing a vehicle.

June 7, 2016 5:30 a.m.

Man charged in Bigfork stabbing

A man is facing felony assault with a weapon charges after he allegedly stabbed a man four times at 405 Bridge Street in Bigfork on May 28.

September 16, 2016 11:10 a.m.

Cheerleader at Bigfork High dies

Bigfork High School varsity cheerleader Kaitlyn Flink, 16, was found dead in her home on Wednesday.