A man and a woman were arrested at a Santa Monica bank of Tuesday, Sept. 1, after their plan to cash a fraudulent check backfired.
At 4:30 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to a bank located in the 500 block of Santa Monica Blvd. in order to investigate a report of fraud that was taking place at that time inside the bank.
Upon arrival the officers spoke with an employee of the bank who told them that the suspect had attempted to cash a fraudulent check at the counter. The employee said that this suspect had claimed that the check was her own paycheck, however the bank employee had recognized the name on the check as belonging to a regular customer of the bank.
When the employee had informed the suspect that she would have to wait while the check was verified the suspect had abandoned the identification card that she had produced and hastily left the bank. However, while the officers were talking with the employee the suspect conveniently returned to the bank so the officers began to ask the suspect about the check.
As the officers were conversing with this suspect a suspicious looking man entered the bank and, upon seeing that the suspect was being addressed by the officers, this man made a hasty retreat and left the bank. The officers used their radios to alert other officers about this suspicious man and the man was soon apprehended near the location.
The other officers questioned this man who initially denied even knowing the first female suspect but when the officers pointed out that this man had in fact been seen taking the female suspect to the bank the man admitted that he did know the suspect.
After searching the suspect’s car the officers discovered several other checks that resembled the one that the suspect had earlier attempted to cash at the bank.
The officers took this 32-year-old Los Angeles resident into custody and after searching her they discovered that she was in possession of a controlled substance along with drug paraphernalia.
The officers arrested this woman and she was charged with intent to defraud, forgery, check fraud, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail was set at $86,000.
