Updated Wednesday August 18, 2010 - 5:30pm
By Brenton Garen and CNS
A Beverly Hills beauty salon owner was arrested today on federal fraud charges for allegedly taking credit card information from Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway and other celebrity clients and running up nearly $300,000 in fraudulent charges.
Maria Gabriella Perez, 51, of Beverly Hills, was arrested without incident at her business, Chez Gabriela Studio, by special agents with the U.S. Secret Service, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Ragan Brooks was visiting her friend who lives directly across the road and watched the arrest unfold at about noon.
"I was sitting at the table and I saw a mini-van pull up and I saw two guys get out in plain clothes. And then I noticed that guy had handcuffs on him and that guy has a gun," Brooks said.
"Then all of these normal cars, not cop cars but Chevys and mini-vans, turned up and all of these cops were getting vests out of their trunks.
"They spent a long time milling around and then they started taking out boxes."
Brooks said the agents were at the house for at least four or five hours.
"Apparently she was operating a salon out of there. There has always been a lot of cars, but I had no idea it was a salon," she said.
Perez faces two counts of access device fraud -- a charge that carries a maximum statutory penalty of 25 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.
The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint alleges that Perez ran up about $68,000 in unauthorized charges on a credit card belonging to jewelry designer Loree Rodkin.
Most of the charges were made from Chez Gabriela Studio when the numbers from the credit card were both "skimmed' electronically and entered manually, according to the affidavit prepared by Secret Service agent Michael de Geus.
Rodkin told investigators that "she had spoken with several other high-profile victims who stated that, after legitimately paying for services at the studio, charges from the studio would appear on their credit cards without authorization,' de Geus wrote.
Along with Aniston and Hathaway, other alleged victims named in the affidavit include Liv Tyler, Melanie Griffith, Cher and Scott Speedman.
An investigator with American Express also told the Secret Service he had discovered about $214,000 in fraudulent charges made last year from Chez Gabriela Studio to two AmEx credit cards belonging to Tyler, according to the affidavit.
Perez's criminal history includes an arrest for shoplifting and bad-check writing, de Geus wrote.
The agent also said a search of legal documents found 20 variations of Perez's name, all with the same Social Security number.
Perez also appears to have seven judgments or liens, against her and her property, the affidavit states.
