Toy-machine thief accused of shopping spree on stolen card

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 mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.