On Feb. 17, a woman in New York was arrested for her alleged involvement in a fraudulent check scheme. The next day, police announced that she had been charged with misdemeanor petit larceny, felony possession of a forged instrument and that more arrests were pending. The 51-year-old woman is accused of executing a check-cashing scam in Ulster, Kingston and Saugerties. The arrest resulted from a local grocer’s complaint on Nov. 17 regarding several payroll checks from various businesses that proved to be fraudulent.
This recent arrest is actually the fourth woman to be charged in relation to the complaint. On Jan. 25, a 24-year-old woman was arrested and charged with felony possession of a forged instrument. She was arrested for allegedly cashing a bad check in a Route 212 store on Oct. 16. At the time, she had warrants for felony possession of a forged instrument in two different counties.
Police say the 51-year-old woman’s arrest was also related to the arrest of two other women that occurred on Dec. 5. Both women, aged 25 and 31, now face charges of misdemeanor petit larceny and felony possession of a forged instrument. They were reportedly attempting to cash fraudulent payroll checks during the month of November. Police say the woman arrested most recently was traveling to the area with the sole purpose of cashing the bad checks. According to police, two more arrests are still pending.
People who are accused of committing fraud typically benefit from confiding in a criminal defense lawyer . Legal counsel may be able to investigate the allegations and begin constructing a viable defense against the charges. If an acquittal or dismissal seems unlikely, lawyers may still be able to help negotiate a favorable plea bargain that results in reduced charges or more lenient sentencing for the accused.
Source: Daily Freeman, “Fourth person charged in probe of fraudulent checks, Ulster police chief says,” Diane Pineiro-Zucker, Feb. 18, 2015