One man has been arrested, and a second is still being sought in an ongoing police investigation in Iowa involving fraudulent payroll checks. The 40-year-old defendant was taken into custody on the morning of Jan. 30. He has been charged with two counts of felony forgery and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
The arrest took place that Monday after employees of a Fareway grocery store called local police to report a possible case of check fraud. After officers responded, they located the suspect and two women in a car parked nearby. The women are also facing misdemeanor drug-related charges because of the items purportedly discovered within the vehicle.
This arrest reportedly comes after a string of similar incidents involving suspects in the same area attempting to cash forged payroll checks, sometimes multiple times, at the same location. A few days prior, officers had tried to stop suspects who fled the scene immediately in a vehicle traveling at more than 90 mph. Police were forced to give up the chase due to icy road conditions. The second male suspect remains at large.
Anyone in Iowa who has been charged with a non-violent crime such as fraud still faces the possibility of jail time, and a conviction creates a criminal record even where none existed previously. A criminal defense lawyer can offer advice and counsel in the often confusing and sometimes frightening aftermath of an arrest. An attorney with experience in similar cases will work with anyone facing such charges to pursue the best possible legal outcome.
Source: globegazette.com, “Man accused of payroll check scam in Mason City“, Molly Montag, Jan. 31, 2017
