Woman gets 6 months in use of ATM card

Thursday, March 3, 2005 | 10:29 a.m.

A 24-year-old woman will serve six months in jail because on Wednesday she recanted her previous statements to police that she had received a homicide victim's ATM card from her ex-boyfriend.

Aquilla Lee was to be sentenced to probation for a felony charge for using the ATM card of 61-year-old homicide victim Donald Ursem shortly after he was shot at his front door on Feb. 5, 2004.

Lee allegedly initially told police she was in her then-boyfriend Walter Crawford's Ford Expedition on the night of Feb. 5. She told police Crawford parked the vehicle down the street from Ursem's house, left and then returned with the credit card, according to police reports.

Although Crawford is in custody on two felony cases, he has not been charged in connection to Ursem's murder. Police have said the investigation into Ursem's murder is ongoing.

Prosecutors agreed to allow Lee to plead guilty to attempted fraudulent use of a debit/credit card in return for her complete cooperation in the case. The charge carries a mandatory sentence of probation.

Lee, however, recanted her statements concerning Crawford's actions the night of Ursem's death in the minutes prior to her sentencing Wednesday and District Judge Sally Loehrer subsequently sentenced Lee to jail.

District Judge Sally Loehrer ordered Lee to spend six months in the Clark Count Detention Center as a condition of her probation because Lee had violated the terms of her plea agreement.

The judge also issued Lee a suspended prison term of 1 to 4 years. If Lee does not maintain full-time employment upon being released from custody, she will serve the prison time.

Surveillance video from a convenience store allowed police to identify Lee in connection with the case of 61-year-old Donald Ursem, who was shot by a man who had knocked on his front door in the 5700 block Carl Street, near Vegas Drive and Jones Boulevard. The gunman demanded Ursem's wallet and ATM card PIN number before shooting him, police said.

Lee allegedly used the ATM card at an east Las Vegas convenience store about 50 minutes after the killing.