Woman allegedly pulled gun when check refused

Thu., June 1, 2006

From Staff Reports The Spokesman-Review

A District Court judge set a $200,000 bail Wednesday for a 41-year-old Spokane woman who allegedly pulled a gun on a clerk who caught her trying to pass a forged check.

Cassandra Jean Gardipee was arrested Tuesday after police said they searched her home and found checks and numerous other items taken in a weekend burglary of Jean and Donald Lartz’s home in Coeur d’Alene. Gardipee remained in the Spokane County Jail Wednesday on suspicion of forgery and first-degree identity theft.

Search warrant documents indicate police found checks allegedly belonging to several other people as well when they searched Gardipee’s home and car at 2503 N. Madelia St. Officers also reported finding two handguns, two shotguns and four rifles allegedly stolen from the Lartzes, and equipment and paperwork related to manufacturing false identification documents and forging checks.

Several sets of keys also were seized in Gardipee’s home. Court documents say a number of keys were taken from the Lartz home, including a set of keys to Ramsey Elementary School in Coeur d’Alene.

Spokane police quickly zeroed in on Gardipee when James Winder, a clerk at the Safeway store at 933 E. Mission, reported a woman threatened him with a small handgun about 5:45 a.m. Tuesday. Winder had challenged what he described as obviously fake identification that the woman presented with a check purportedly signed by Jean Lartz.

Winder told police the woman ordered him to move out of her way so she could leave.

Winder got the vehicle’s license number as the woman drove away, and police said they traced it to Gardipee.

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