Man found copying fake licenses arrested on fraud charges

Spokane Valley Police officers arrested a man on fraud charges after allegedly finding him making counterfeit driver’s licenses.

Police were called to Kinko’s Copy Shop on North Sullivan Road at 6 p.m. Monday. Employees said a man had come in the night before and left an altered driver’s license on a copier. The man had returned Monday and was again making photocopies, according to a police department press release.

Officer Scott Bonney approached the man, who did not comply with the officer’s orders to move away from a pair of scissors, police said.

Bonney detained the man, identified as Christopher J. Steinbaugh, 24, 13310 E. Blanchard Road.

Police determined Steinbaugh had been altering driver’s licenses to show other people’s names, but his photograph. Steinbaugh also had a briefcase with personal checks in other names, police said.

Bonney contacted three of the people whose names were on checks in Steinbaugh’s possession and determined the checks had been stolen, police said.

Steinbaugh was booked into the Spokane County Jail on five counts of suspicion of fraud.

Man charged with theft after bicycle stolen

A 41-year-old man was arrested after he stole a bicycle from a hotel, police said.

Police were called Tuesday to check on a report of a bicycle being taken from a rack in front of the Mirabeau Park Hotel, 1100 N. Sullivan Road.

Witnesses said a man had taken the bike, put it in the back of a car and driven to a nearby Chevron station. Witnesses told police they saw the man park the car and walk down Valleyway.

Spokane Valley Police Department Cpl. Mark Fox saw a man walking down Valleyway. Fox detained the man, identified as Jody W. Stroud, 1417 N. Washington Road. A $300 bicycle was found disassembled inside the car, police said.

Police determined the bicycle belonged to a guest at the hotel.

During a search of Stroud’s clothing, police found what they say is methamphetamine.

Stroud was booked into the Spokane County Jail on charges of suspicion of second-degree theft and possession of methamphetamine, both felonies.

Check used to buy pizza leads to forgery charge

A woman was arrested on suspicion of felony forgery after police say she paid for pizza with a stolen check.

A manager at Pizza Pipeline on East Sprague Avenue called police Wednesday after becoming suspicious of a $19.51 check a delivery person had been given. It appeared the check had been previously written out to someone else for a different amount, according to the Spokane Valley Police Department.

The manager had the employee go back to the house, but no one answered the door, according to police.

Officer Aaron Myhre went to the house and determined that the check had been written on an account that had been closed in September because of forgery concerns. Myhre found that Kimberley L. Johnson, 36, had written the check.

Johnson was arrested on felony forgery charges and booked into the Spokane County Jail.

Money from safe stolen during Moonlite Spa break-in

A safe was ripped from the wall during a burglary this week at the Moonlite Spa.

The spa, which has exercise equipment as well as a sauna, was likely broken into sometime late Tuesday or early Wednesday. It’s in the basement of a former house at 12 N. University Road.

Owner Paul Argo said the safe had less than $1,000 inside.

The burglar took a window out of a back door and unlocked it, according to the Spokane Valley Police Department. An inside door was also smashed during the burglary.

Argo said he has installed a security system.

Fingerprint evidence was collected and the investigation is continuing, police said.

Anyone with information about the break-in, should call Crime Check at 456-2233.