APD: Maid stole man's credit card

AUSTIN (KXAN) - An employee of a house cleaning service has been charged with credit card abuse after Austin police say she stole a credit card from a client’s house. Her husband has also been charged with credit card abuse after police say he was caught using the stolen cards.

According to an arrest warrant made public Wednesday, police say Amanda Marie Laza had just started at Molly Maids when she was training with two other maids at a man’s home in the 2800 block of Diddley Cove on September 23.

A month after that cleaning, the costumer says he got a credit card bill from a card he hadn’t used in years. In fact, the man says that card was not even activated and was lying in the top drawer of his desk.

The credit card bill showed a $182.94 purchase at the Wal-Mart on Norwood Park Blvd near I-35 and 183. A second purchase of $203.92 was attempted, but the card was declined at that time. The man said there were several other purchases successfully made with the stolen card.

The man immediately contacted Austin police, who began an investigation.

Officers say they were able to get surveillance video from that Wal-Mart that showed a man they identified as Joshua Alan Laza, 22, making the transactions with the card. The man who’s name is on the card told investigators he’d never met Joshua, or given him permission to use his credit card.

“The only plausible/reasonable explanation for him gaining possession of that card would be through his wife, Amanda Laza,” an Austin police detective wrote in the arrest warrant.

Amanda was arrested Tuesday and was still in the Travis County Jail Wednesday morning on bonds totaling $9,500. Joshua was not listed in the Travis County Jail Wednesday morning.

“[Amanda] has been let go for other reasons,” Molly Maids Owner Harrison Young said Wednesday during a telephone interview.

“We are in the process of investigating this and our insurance company is taking care of the credit card charges,” Young continued.

Young said Ms. Laza was obviously hired to clean houses, not steal credit cards. He said she was acting outside of the scope of her employment when she stole the customer’s credit card.

The owner of the company said a full background check was performed on Ms. Laza prior to her employment with Molly Maids. He says a check using a DPS database found nothing.

A KXAN check of Ms. Laza’s background, however, found that this is not the first time she’s been charged with theft. She currently has a warrant out of her arrest in Williamson County for a theft by check accusation stemming from February of this year. KXAN uses a records service called PublicData.com.

“This is a good opportunity to tell people to make sure they’re doing business with reputable firms that are bonded,” Young mentioned. “Most independent companies aren’t bonded and, if this happened to someone using an independent company, you would most likely not get your money back.”

If convicted, the married duo each face up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.