A USU employee arrested for $13K in credit card fraud.

Apr 24

3 min read

| by Travis Uresk | April 24^th, 2026 |

Vernal, Utah (3/10/26)—Det. K. Russell was notified by Det. Blackham, with the Utah State University (USU) Police, was asked to investigate a fraud case.

It was discovered that an employee, 47-year-old Latrisha Mae Fall, had used her USU credit card to make several fraudulent purchases. These items were either for personal use or for her side business.

Det. Russell was given a spreadsheet from the USU administration that had been broken down by every charge and receipt submitted to them by Latrisha. This spreadsheet included pictures of the items from the receipts and the prices of all items listed. The total amount of personal items, including missing items, is approximately $13,602.

After gathering all evidence and bank statements, Det. Russell contacted Latrisha for an interview.

Prior to the interview with Latrisha, Det. Russell had driven by her house and, from the roadway, observed a tent-like canopy on the West side of her house that matched the description of the one purchased with the USU card but not found at the time of the audit. When the detective asked about the tent, she couldn't say where the canopy had come from; she would have to ask her husband.

On 4/22/26, the detective conducted an interview with Latrsiha at the Uintah County Sheriff's Office. In this interview, he talked with her about her catering business. She stated that she had been doing it for several years with a partner. In speaking with Latrisha, the substantial transition charges that were not approved and were not located at the time of the audit. This charge was for $1,500.

Latrisha told Det. Russell the name of the person who owns the catering company. He knew this person to be married to Latrisha's partner in this business.

The detective spoke with Latrisha further about other transitions flagged by the USU administration. He asked her about an iPad that she had gotten from the USU campus. Latrisha said she had never received an iPad and wouldn't sign for one. When questioned more about the receipt and other items, she admitted that she had the iPad in question. She stated that she had forgotten about it and that it was in her house.

Latrisha was then asked during the interview about some bottles purchased with the USU credit card, for which the administration had found pictures on Latrisha's social media accounts showing those bottles being sold with her catering company logo. When Det. Russell asked about selling these bottles. She got defensive and said she was unaware that she had used the USU card to buy the bottles.

At this time in the interview, Latrisha became more defensive in her answers and eventually stated that she did not want to continue without an attorney. Detective Russell stated that those were her rights and that he would respect them. He told her that, with all the evidence that he had gathered, she was going to be arrested and taken to jail.

The detective escorted Latrisha to the jail, where she was also informed that an arrest warrant was outstanding from the Vernal City Justice Court. Latrisha was booked on one count of unlawful use of a financial transaction card, a 2nd-degree felony, because the amount exceeded $5,000, and because she knowingly used this transaction card to buy goods or services not for the USU campus.

One count of Misusing public funds, a 2nd-degree felony due to the amount being more than $5000, because Latrisha used this card for personal use and/or goods and services, and because of her state-wide warrant.