Rexburg woman arrested on 7 counts of fraud

IDAHO FALLS – A Rexburg woman has been indicted on seven felony counts of fraud.

Shae Lyn Gebert, 29, made her initial appearance in court Wednesday after being charged in December. She was in possession of seven stolen debit cards and other items at the time of her arrest, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

On December 11, a pastor in Idaho Falls handed officers a purse she’d found in connection with several active theft cases. She told them she’d found it in the street outside her home. Gebert’s driver’s license was inside, along with several debit cards, some of which belonged to Gebert and another family member and some that didn’t.

“(The pastor) said she contacted Shae and told her that she was giving the purse to the cops. Shae told her she wanted her purse back and was bringing back property she stole from (her),” the officer writes in his report.

When officers arrived at the station, they found numerous other items inside, including a St. Vincent College ID card, an Idaho Quest card, several hotel keys, a Kohls gift card, a $12 case and Target receipt. There was also a driver’s license and social security card belonging to someone else, along with Idaho Central Credit Union account numbers and passwords, insurance cards and multiple cash reward visa cards.

Officers learned one of the victims had reported the theft several days earlier. She confirmed the items were hers and said her Venmo card was still unaccounted for and someone was trying to use it, the report says.

After returning the items to the victim, a receipt for items returned at Target in the amount of $404.81 turned up from a previous investigation.

In a previous report from another officer, a conversation between the pastor and Gebert was on file.

“In this conversation, Shae admitted to taking the items and was going to return the items. (The officer) noted credit cards were taken, but wasn’t specific to the type and identifying numbers. The debit cards I found belonging to (Gebert’s husband) and (the pastor) I believe are related to this incident,” the officer wrote.

A mother of one of the other victims living in Bingham County told police her son had several items he’d been looking for. He didn’t know if they had been lost or stolen and had not reported them missing. The mother described the items that were missing and drove to Idaho Falls to get them.

The victim called back later and said he stayed with Gebert at a hotel the previous weekend. She reportedly came to him with a “sob story” and needed a place to stay.

“He said he doesn’t know her that well but she was acting really shady,” the victim said, according to the officer’s report.

He realized the cards were missing several days later when he went to make a payment on his accounts.

Gebert was arrested on March 7 and booked in the Bonneville County Jail. Her bond is set at $20,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 22.