A Little Rock woman was arrested on felony warrants Sunday night stemming from allegations she broke into two vehicles in Hot Springs in November and later used the victims' stolen debit cards.
Makiah Sha'quera Waters, 26, was taken into custody shortly before 9:30 p.m. and charged with two felony counts of theft by receiving, punishable by up to six years in prison, and one misdemeanor count of fraudulent use of a credit card, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Waters, who lists no prior criminal history, pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday in Garland County District Court and was later released on a $7,500 bond. She is set to appear again for a felony review hearing on May 17.
According to the probable cause affidavits, on Nov. 29, at around 4:20 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer Nicolas Cato responded to Hot Springs Pediatric Clinic, 1920 Malvern Ave., regarding a break-in to a vehicle.
He spoke to a woman who stated that shortly after 3 p.m., two people pulled up beside her vehicle, a 2012 Toyota Highlander. Surveillance footage allegedly showed a Black male who got out of the second vehicle, looked into the passenger window of the victim's car and "nodded in approval."
The male then got back into the driver's seat of the second vehicle as a Black female exited the car, walked over and broke the passenger side window of the Highlander. She then reached in and took the victim's purse.
At around 3:30 p.m. that day, the victim received a notification her debit card was used at Lowe's, 300 Cornerstone Blvd., for $1,243.79 and to make a food delivery purchase of $9.99.
Video footage at Lowe's reportedly showed the same male and female purchasing three gift cards. HSPD Detective Chris McGlone was reportedly later able to positively identify the female as Waters by comparing the Lowe's video to her driver's license and her Facebook profile.
Shortly after 4:30 p.m. that same day, about 20 minutes after the first incident, Cato responded to Tri-Lakes Dentistry, 2840 Malvern Ave., for a second report of a break-in to a vehicle.
A woman reported someone broke into her 2020 Hyundai Palisade sometime between 3:30 and 4 p.m. by shattering the back passenger window and then stole her wallet out of the front seat. The wallet contained $504 in cash, two debit cards and her ID.
Later that day, one of her debit cards was used to make a $504.94 at Walmart and a $415.90 purchase at Lowe's. Video footage from Walmart allegedly showed the same two suspects from the previous incident using the woman's card and McGlone was again allegedly able to identify the female as Waters.
Warrants for Waters' arrest on all the charges were issued on Feb. 28.