Woman forged checks belonging to jail commander’s wife, police say

Lesson one for staying out of the Spokane County Jail: Don’t forge checks stolen from the wife of the jail commander.

Cybil M. Imholt, 31, was arrested last fall and charged with 21 felonies – including leading organized crime – in one of the largest identity theft investigations in the area’s history.

But she posted a $1,000 bond and was released Oct. 26 from Geiger Corrections Center. It didn’t take Imholt long to add 26 more felony charges to her case file and force county Jail Commander Jerry Brady to answer some pointed questions from his frustrated wife.

“She asked, ‘How did (Imholt) get out?’ I said she got released or posted bond. It’s not my fault,” Brady said.

No longer at Geiger, Imholt is now in the jail Brady oversees. Since she now has a total of 47 felony charges pending, her bond was raised to $100,000, according to court records.

The headache started with a miscommunication between Deanna Brady and her bank. She requested new checks but asked the banker to call, not mail, the checks when they arrived, Jerry Brady said. But the checks were mistakenly mailed to Brady’s rural home.

Investigators don’t know who stole the box of new checks from their mailbox. But Sgt. Steve Barbieri said that Imholt got a hold of them, and made a fake ID with her own picture but Deanna Brady’s name. Those forged checks were then used during a six-day period in early December to purchase everything from shoes, merchandise and movies to $70 worth of food at Frankie Doodles.

One of the forged checks paid a $219.48 bill at a storage unit to which the suspect allegedly brought a note, saying: “To whom it may concern @ Park and Ride storage. I give permission to my sister Deanna Brady to get into my storage and empty it. I will no longer use you as my storage as I am in jail for a few years. Thank you, Cybil Imholt.”

Another problem for Imholt: Security tapes from Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse and Macy’s at NorthTown Mall show Imholt making purchases with Brady’s checks, according to court records.

None of it’s true, though, Imholt said in a jailhouse interview Monday.

She said she believes the new charges spring from her refusal to talk to Barbieri because he falsely reported she had confessed to the earlier check-fraud charges.

She cited a Nov. 5 Spokesman-Review story that quoted Barbieri as saying: “She told us she had 60 or 70 different people bringing her account numbers and checks that were stolen in vehicle prowlings and burglaries. She would then alter the checks and … pass out the checks to four or five people to cash the checks.”

Imholt said Barbieri assured her the newspaper “overstates and exaggerates everything,” but she believes she can no longer get a fair trial in Spokane because of his published statements.

Imholt questioned the credibility of witnesses expected to testify against her, contending they are methamphetamine users. But she said she also has a methamphetamine problem.

“It put a good damper on my life,” she said. “I ran with a pretty tough crowd, and I now am very regretful of all of it – the drugs. I am very regretful of a lot of the choices that I’ve made.”

She cried at the thought of her three children, ages 12, 9 and 7.

“They’re my life,” Imholt said. “I am losing every minute I’m in here (in jail). It’s time I will never get back with them.”

Still, Imholt said she expects to beat the charges against her.

“I have God with me, and I have a very strong lawyer,” she said.

Investigators could find nothing that suggests the Deanna Brady checks were forged out of retaliation for Imholt’s previous incarceration, Barbieri said.

Barbieri said Imholt had no reaction when told the owner of the stolen checks was the wife of the jail commander.

“I don’t think she even cared,” Barbieri said. “To her, it was, ‘OK. Whatever.’ This is just how she makes a living. She’s not going to change.”

Imholt was one of four suspects charged with organized crime last November as part of a joint investigation by Spokane police and the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. In all, prosecutors sought 160 felony counts against 22 suspects.

The second phase of the case began Dec. 1 and has netted another 47 felony charges against 23 more suspects, including one man who told investigators he stole between 30 and 50 cars in six months, Barbieri said.

To charge a suspect with leading organized crime – a charge once reserved for mobsters – investigators must show the suspect profited by directing three or more people to commit felony acts on their behalf.

For instance, Imholt told investigators last year that she had 60 or 70 different people bringing her account numbers and checks that were stolen in vehicle prowlings and burglaries, Barbieri said. She would then alter the checks, call the bank to make sure the accounts still had funds and would then pass the forged checks to four or five other suspects.

Imholt would then get back 50 percent of whatever money or merchandise the other criminals could obtain with the forged checks, Barbieri said.

With Imholt in jail, property criminals will find it harder to turn a profit, Barbieri said.

“They have to find somebody else willing to take the stuff and give them what they want,” he said. “There will be a drop in prowlings for a while until they actually find somebody and they will start up again.”

As for Brady, he said he didn’t ask for any favors in prosecuting Imholt. Barbieri agreed.

“I think Jerry was going to let the system do what the system does,” Barbieri said. “I know he didn’t put any pressure on us or make any requests different from us.”

That is no consolation for Deanna Brady, who spent hours writing up spreadsheets and tracking down every stolen check at each store, Jerry Brady said. Monday was the first time he checked to see when Imholt had been released from jail.

“Now that I find out she was released from Geiger – and I didn’t have anything to do with it – I think I am probably going to be exonerated,” Brady said.