After losing his job at a private South Fork ranch last year, an Alabama man is alleged to have gone on a spending spree with his former employer’s credit card.

Marc J. Rosen, 63, is facing a felony charge of theft, which asserts he racked up nearly $10,000 worth of charges — including a $5,200 watch — on a card belonging to the Mariposa Ranch.

Rosen turned himself in to Cody police earlier this month and is now free on bond while awaiting further proceedings.

A resume posted to Rosen’s personal website indicates he has decades of experience cooking for restaurants and guest ranches. The document says he began working at a “Confidential Ranch” in the Cody area — presumably the Mariposa — in 2021, serving as its culinary director/executive chef. Rosen’s resume says he prepared luncheons and dinners for up to 150 people and court records say he was provided a company credit card to buy food and other items for the kitchen.

However, the Mariposa Ranch’s manager told authorities last year that Rosen also began using the card to buy personal items. After being confronted, Rosen agreed to repay the ranch for $1,778 worth of personal items, but he only repaid about $1,000, the manager told the Park County Sheriff’s Office.

On April 8, 2024, the manager called Rosen and fired him. The manager said they shut off the credit card around the time Rosen was terminated, “but for some reason it took a few weeks to actually be canceled,” Gibson wrote.

The manager said he also told Rosen to return the card, but “this apparently did not happen,” Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Gibson wrote in an affidavit.

Starting the day after the call and continuing through April 17, 2024, Rosen allegedly used the ranch’s card to make $9,960.38 worth of purchases. 

For example, the card was used to buy $2,812.33 worth of items from a clothing store at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas hotel and casino and cellular data that the sheriff’s office later obtained from Verizon indicated Rosen — or at least his cellphone — was in Vegas at the time of the purchases.

The Verizon data showed Rosen’s phone then heading to his home of Gulf Shores, Alabama, where the ranch’s card was used at multiple area stores, Gibson wrote in an affidavit.

Account statements provided by the ranch showed the card was also tapped for a variety of online purchases between April 11 and April 17, 2024, the affidavit says. The biggest was “a watch from Amazon for $5,184,” Gibson wrote, and data obtained via a warrant showed that order and others were placed from Rosen’s account.

On April 23, 2024, Rosen reportedly texted his former boss, saying he’d be “up to pick up my stuff very soon and pay back my credit card,” but the court filings indicate the debt was not repaid.

The manager contacted the sheriff’s office on May 7, 2024, kicking off an investigation that wound up stretching out over a year.

Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric filed the case late last month and Rosen turned himself in to Cody police on June 13.

Rosen’s defense attorney, Brigita Krisjansons, and Skoric agreed to jointly recommend that bail be set at $10,000 cash or surety. Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah adopted the recommendation at a Friday morning hearing, which allowed Rosen to post a surety bond and be released from custody within the hour.

In-line with the joint recommendation of the prosecution and defense, Darrah did not impose any travel restrictions on the defendant.

A preliminary hearing in the case is tentatively set for Aug. 13.