Police Name Three Suspects In Forgery Ring Operation May Have Forged $750,000 Worth Of Bad Checks

Sat., Jan. 30, 1999

By Adam Lynn adaml@spokesman.com

A crime ring may have pocketed $750,000 recently in an elaborate check-forging scheme, Spokane police said.

The operation involves stolen payroll checks, false identification and a group of accomplices willing to take a criminal risk for a little profit, detectives said.

Police are looking for three people in connection with the case, which may spread outside Washington.

Louise Bundy, 33, Kelly Dial, 36, and Robert J. Mazetta, 30, are wanted on warrants charging each of them with first-degree theft and 20 counts of forgery.

Bail for each has been set at $50,000.

Authorities believe several other people also may be involved in the case and more warrants are expected to be issued.

The case began in July 1998 when someone broke into two Spokane businesses and stole payroll checks from file cabinets.

Ringleaders would then recruit people to cash the checks in exchange for a portion of the amount. Each accomplice was given a fake ID to enable them to cash the checks, detectives believe.

“By using a variety of people to cash the payroll checks, there is little suspicion aroused until the checks are found to be worthless,” police spokesman Dick Cottam said in a press release.

Detective believe the ring forged more than $20,000 in checks stolen from one Spokane architecture firm alone, court documents state.

Police identified Dial as a possible suspect when an evidence expert lifted her fingerprints from some of the checks.

Dial, also known as Marlene Nellson, is 5 feet 4 inches tall, 150 pounds, with red hair and hazel eyes. She has a felony record in Spokane County, with arrests in the 1980s for drugs and forgery.

Bundy, also known as Louise Adams, is 5 feet 4 inches tall, 170 pounds, with brown hair and eyes.

Mazetta is 6 feet 4 inches tall, 160 pounds, with brown hair and eyes.

Neither Bundy nor Mazetta has a felony record in the county.

Anyone with information on the case or the suspects’ whereabouts is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

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