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WEST PITTSTON &mdash; A woman turned herself in to authorities on Monday after a year-long investigation revealed that she racked up almost $20,000 in credit card debt under her estranged husband&rsquo;s name, causing him to lose his home, police say.
				Jennifer Costello, 35, of Swoyersville was arraigned via FaceTime by District Judge Brian Tupper on charges of identity theft and forgery after police found that she opened up four separate accounts with various credit card companies without the authorization of her husband.
				According to a criminal complaint:
				Costello&rsquo;s ex-husband came to the West Pittston Police Department on Aug. 25, 2019 after discovering several fraudulent accounts that had been opened under his name. He didn&rsquo;t learn of these accounts until July 2019, after Costello had left him.
				Police were informed that Costello would have had the information and means to open accounts under her husband&rsquo;s name because of their marriage.
				Costello was contacted via email by her husband on Aug. 12, 2019 asking her to return credit cards under his name, to which she replied that she no longer had any.
				The investigation turned up four fraudulent accounts that were opened by Costello under her husband&rsquo;s name.
				Costello opened up an account with American Express on Nov. 17, 2016, using her personal email address and cell phone number to verify the account. She continued to open accounts without her husband&rsquo;s knowledge, including one with Discover Credit on May 26, 2017; one with Synchrony Bank on Nov. 18, 2017 and one with Capital One on June 5, 2019.
				The four accounts had a total outstanding balance of $19,710 as of Monday, when the charges were filed. As a result of the debt and the negative impact on his credit score, Costello&rsquo;s husband ended up losing his West Pittston residence.
				Investigators attempted to contact Costello both at home and at her place of employment to set up an interview, with Costello blocking an officer&rsquo;s number and refusing to answer her home phone. The investigating officer managed to get in touch with Costello through use of a random phone number generator.
				Costello was released on $20,000 in unsecured bail after her arraignment. She declined comment on her way out of the building.
				West Pittston Chief of Police Michael Turner spoke with reporters after the arraignment.
				&ldquo;After an investigation dating back to last year, we were able today to file charges,&rdquo; Turner said.
				He remarked that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a bit of a setback for the investigation, but they stayed on top of it and were able to get Costello to turn herself in. Turner also issued some words of advice pertaining to identity theft.
				&ldquo;I would just advise everyone to check their statements and with their credit card bureaus,&rdquo; Turner said.

Police: Woman racked up almost $20k in credit card debt in estranged husband’s name