Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

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Nicole Pacheco appears in court Friday, indicted on 64 financial charges related to the illegal use of the dead parents' credit cards.

By John Hill
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Nicole Pacheco, girlfriend of James W. Soares Jr., the man charged with killing his parents and taking Pacheco on a $5,000 spending spree with the dead couple's credit cards, was ordered held without bail today, accused of being a probation violator, the attorney general's office announced.

Pacheco, 20, and Soares, 24, were charged with 64 counts of various financial crimes and fraud Friday. It was her arrest on those counts that led to her being charged as a probation violator, said Michael Healey, spokesman for Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch. She will be held at least until a Feb. 10 violation hearing.

Pacheco has not been charged in the murder of Soares' parents.

She did, however, plead no contest to four misdemeanor larceny charges that were lodged against her by the Warren police in June. That case was filed, meaning if she'd stayed out of trouble for a year, the case would be dismissed. But in July she was arrested again, by the Bristol police, on misdemeanor larceny, possession of marijuana and tampering with a motor vehicle charges. That arrest led the previous case, in which the sentence had been held in abeyance, to be converted to a year's probation.

And it was that probation that she was charged with violating at today's hearing.

The state has charged that Soares killed his parents on or around July 7 and dumped their bodies in the family's backyard cesspool. Investigators say he then took their bank and credit cards and, with Pacheco, bought about $5,000 worth of merchandise that they either used themselves or sold for cash.

Among the items the two are accused of buying are a laptop computer, a flat-screen television, a Sony Playstation and a Nintendo Wii game system. The prices of the items ranged from $1.49 to $402, Healey said. They are also accused of making nine on-line purchases ranging from $100 to $300 each, he said. Lynch has said the state believes Pacheco knew the cards were being used illegally.

The financial charges for both Soares and Pacheco include 20 counts of credit card fraud, 29 counts of obtaining money under false pretenses, nine counts of computer fraud, four counts of conspiracy and two counts of conspiracy to commit a crime outside of the state of Rhode Island.

 Tags  financial crimes murder Rhode Island RI Warren

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