Trial date set in credit card number theft case

Janelle I. Braun, 39, Spokane, pleaded not guilty in superior court Friday morning to a charge of first- degree theft and was scheduled for trial Aug. 12. Braun was arrested in Spokane on a warrant and brought to jail here.

The arrest warrant was issued April 12 after Braun failed to appear March 12 on a summons which was issued after she was charged.

Braun told the court Friday that she had been in the process of moving in Spokane and did not receive the mail for the notice.

Braun is charged with using the number of her grandmother's credit card to make more than $2,500 in purchases. The probable cause report filed with the charge alleges she began to use the credit card number after she monitored a call her grandmother made to a Spokane optics company to cover a $50 bill for the defendant.

During Braun’s first appearance in court Thursday, Judge Gary Libery said he would consider pre-trial release if Braun could get someone to come to court and vouch that she would appear for subsequent court dates. Friday, after the defendant appeared and entered her not guilty plea, no one in the court would vouch for her, and she was ordered held on $20,000 bond.

Braun said now that she had experienced jail she would be certain to make court appearances, but the judge stuck with his earlier release condition.