Fraud ring nets nearly $350,000

Police are on the lookout for several suspects believed to be involved in the theft of nearly $50,000 by check fraud in the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane areas.

Losses in the Northwest from the fraud ring were more than $100,000 in some cases, and the overall tally is nearly $350,000, police said.

“They’ve been doing it for at least a month that we know of,” said Shardell Ellis, fraud and forgery detective with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department. “There are possibilities that other jurisdictions have something that we just don’t know about.”

Ellis said members of the group appear to be Hispanic males and females in their mid-20s and mid-30s, and have hit at least two Coeur d’Alene businesses so far.

The group was spotted Monday while attempting to cash checks valued at $1,993.51 at Idaho Independent Bank in Coeur d’Alene. A bank teller noticed the checks would have overdrawn the account. But the suspects ran when the teller called to confirm the overdraft, police said.

According to police records, other members of the group cashed checks on the account Friday valued at $8,976.29, which were never issued by the business, Echelon Manufacturing of Coeur d’Alene. A box of blank business checks were later reported stolen from a file cabinet in the main office along with miscellaneous camera equipment and petty cash.

In a related case, 84 payroll checks were reported stolen from Coeur d’Alene Crane Service over the weekend. Fifteen of the checks were cashed in the amount of $13,940.60 before the account was closed.

In both cases, two males reportedly made contact with the businesses to fill out job applications weeks prior to the burglaries, possibly to scope out security, Ellis said.

At least 10 people are suspected in the group that cashed checks at Idaho Independent Bank. Police obtained surveillance photos and a vehicle description from Idaho Independent Bank. The suspects reportedly fled in a blue Ford van with a tall roof and possibly California license plates.

Two suspects in similar check-cashing schemes were arrested at Washington Trust Bank in Liberty Lake on Friday by the Liberty Lake Police Department. Both were charged with second-degree possession of stolen property and forgery, both felonies. The suspects have been identified as transients Franciso G. Rodriguez, 36, and Manuel Medina-Gonzalez, 31.

Police said the suspects were caught in the act as they attempted to cash two checks valued at $1,000 each after another two checks were cashed earlier in the day under similar circumstances. The case was then turned over to the Spokane Police Department because of related cases there.

All three agencies are sharing information and believe the cases to be linked.

“We’re going to piggyback on their case since they’re all on a common scheme,” said Ray Bourgeois, sergeant with the Liberty Lake Police Department.

Stacey Carr, fraud detective with the Spokane Police Department, said the group is similar to an organized string of crimes that hit the area in 1996, and could be the same group.

The group runs a check-cashing circuit by typically breaking into commercial buildings, then stealing a few checks further down in payroll checkbooks or boxes.

Then, they cash checks in an unsuspecting way, she said.

“They like to hit at the same time, like a work crew,” Carr said. “It’s something that is typically done, so it didn’t raise any suspicions.”

She said 25 checks valued at nearly $25,000 were cashed in the Spokane area. Police gathered about 20 inkless fingerprints and surveillance photos, she said. Warrants will be issued once the suspects are identified.

The paper trail also stretches south to the Tri-Cities, Yakima and Boise.

One of the checks cashed in Spokane was from Pasco, Carr said. Yakima, she added, “got hit pretty hard.”