Ex-lover tells police about fraud ring

A main witness against a Spokane Valley man accused of running a check fraud ring agreed to cooperate with police after ending a sexual relationship with the suspect and his wife, according to court documents.

The woman told police she used methamphetamine with Ronald R. Foreman and his wife while helping with a large fraud that police say Foreman operated from his home.

Now Foreman, 43, faces drug charges as well as a charge of leading organized crime. A SWAT team raided his home at 13718 E. 21st Ave. on Thursday evening.

Foreman, who called the allegations “preposterous” in a court appearance last week, appeared in Spokane County Superior Court on Monday on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance.

The charge is connected to an alleged meth transaction in May between Foreman, who’s a convicted methamphetamine maker, and a confidential informant at the informant’s home, according to court documents.

Foreman is already facing $40,000 bail for one charge of leading organized crime. More arrests are expected as police continue to investigate up to a dozen people who may have been working for Foreman, including a man accused of threatening a bail bonds employee with a gun.

That suspect, George W. Butrick, 32, is charged with forgery for a fraudulent check that he allegedly tried to cash. He told investigators Foreman had given him the check, according to court documents.

A woman, who told investigators she had a sexual relationship with Foreman and his wife, also is suspected of working for Foreman. The relationship started in October and ended in January, when she quit drugs and turned to church, according to court documents.

The woman told police “she felt religiously like she needed to assist and be honest in the investigation,” court documents said. The woman, who has not been charged with a crime, said Foreman took 70 percent of the profit from the fraudulent checks or used the checks to buy expensive items for his home.

Conspirators often stole account numbers from outgoing mail at residential and roadside mailboxes, according to police, and Foreman is thought to have perfected manufacturing fake IDs.

Investigators say Foreman’s scheme likely involves dozens of businesses and possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars. His wife of 16 years, Joanna Foreman, reportedly told a detective they’d been heavy meth users “for a long time,” according to a search warrant filed Monday in Superior Court.