A Lyons woman who formerly lived in Linton is accused of getting her cable service turned on, using a daughter’s name without permission, then not paying the bill.

Justina Renee Jerrell, 45, Lyons, was arrested and booked into the Greene County Jail on Monday evening, September 16.

Det. Shawn Cullison of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department started investigating this case last March when a woman reported discovering cable bills issued in her name without her permission.

The woman said when she was checking her credit score, she found outstanding bills that she didn’t know about and one was from Comcast for $574.87 for service at an address on M Street SE in Linton for about four months in 2017.

Det. Cullison said the woman told him she had never lived at that address but her mother, Justina Jerrell had lived there. Cullison got a subpoena for information from Comcast and when the info was received, he said it showed the date of connection and disconnection for an account under the daughter’s name with the daughter’s social security number but with Jerrell’s phone number and email address.

Det. Cullison was able to verify that Jerrell was using the phone number on the account during that time period since she had used it to make a couple of reports to the sheriff’s department, including a report of a domestic dispute across the street from her house on M Street SE.

When Det. Cullison talked to Jerrell, she allegedly said the daughter was living with her at the M Street address at the time and had given her permission to set the account up in the daughter’s name because Jerrell’s credit was not good enough to get service. She allegedly said she had pieces of mail and other items that would show the daughter had been living at the M Street address.

When Cullison talked to the daughter again, she maintained she had not lived at the M Street but was living in Lyons throughout that time period and that she should not have gotten mail at M Street – her home and mailing address was in Lyons.

Det. Cullison checked with the Lyons Post Office and confirmed the daughter did have mail going to her address in Lyons. In addition, he talked to a witness who confirmed the daughter lived with him in Lyons during that time frame.

Det. Cullison also noted that at the time charges were first filed against Jerrell in June, Jerrell had not provided him with any items showing the daughter lived at the M Street address.

A criminal case was filed against Jerrell in late June and in early July, a summons was issued ordering her to appear in court for an initial hearing. The summons, sent by signature mail, was returned as “unclaimed.”

On the day of the hearing, Monday, August 19, Jerrell was a no-show and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

When she was booked into the Greene County Jail Monday, her bond was set at $5,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. She has since posted $500 cash and been released.

Another court date has been set. When she appears in Greene Superior Court next Monday, September 23, she will be charged with deception, a Class A misdemeanor.