The former owner of two popular downtown Cullman retail shops has been indicted by a federal grand jury for wire fraud and using a stolen credit card obtained through the mail.

A four-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Casey Michelle Hardiman, 31, with two counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of possessing stolen mail. Hardiman previously owned the Poor Little Rich Girl clothing shop and The Jade Apple shoe store in the Warehouse District in Cullman. Both shops have since closed.

Hardiman, most recently of Decatur, has been indicted in connection to using a fraudulent credit card stolen from the mail, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and U.S. Postal Inspector Frank Dyer.

According to the indictment, Hardiman committed wire fraud when she used a stolen credit card on April 7 and April 8 at two Huntsville stores. She also committed aggravated identity theft by using the stolen card, according to the indictment.

Between April 7 and April 10, Hardiman reportedly possessed more than 200 letters and items of mail that had been stolen from numerous mailboxes in Madison County, the indictment charges.

The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year prison sentence, which must be served consecutively to any other sentenced imposed for the crime. Theft of U.S. mail carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Huntsville, Madison and Decatur police departments investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Davis Barlow is prosecuting.