Dave & Buster’s worker busts fraudulent debit card user, cops say

Police said she used a fraudulent debit card to play games and buy drinks at a Dave & Buster’s in Westbury.

But thanks to an alert employee, police said Jaclyn Valentino, 24, of Deer Park, is under arrest Wednesday, charged with five counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

Nassau County police said Valentino, of Commack Road, was arrested just before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Dave & Buster’s on Old Country Road after she used the fake debit card “to purchase games and beverages in the bar,” and an employee, whose identity was not disclosed, noticed the number on the receipt didn’t match the debit card presented by Valentino.

The employee notified police.

Police said that an investigation determined Valentino had 21 additional fraudulent debit and credit cards.

At her arraignment Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead, bail for Valentino was set at $15,000 cash or bond, which had not been posted by Wednesday evening, officials said.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”