Checks and Balances

• Checks

Checks

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — The Worthington Police Department and Nobles County Sheriff Office are in the midst of investigating a large bounced check ring involving several people, and are looking for the business district’s help in making sure they have all the bad checks rounded up.

Nobles County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Lonnie Roloff and Worthington Police Department Det. Dave Hoffman are looking for checks that have been written on the accounts of Chasedy Colsch and Heather Leigh Oldeen, both of Mankato. Checks written on closed accounts or on accounts with insufficient funds have shown up in Adrian, Rushmore, Worthington, Round Lake, Jackson and other cities in southwest Minnesota.

“We think there are five people involved, possibly as many as eight or 10,” Hoffman said.

Approximately 90 percent of the fraudulent checks written in Nobles County come from outside the area, which is why Hoffman and Roloff are encouraging businesses to take a close look at identification when they receive a check. Compare the photo, check the name and write down the number on the ID card, they suggest.

“And don’t be afraid to ask questions,” Roloff said. “Like ‘What brings you here?’”

One of the checks written on the accounts in question was for a 42 inch flat screen TV at a cost of more than $1,000. Most people wouldn’t drive from a town the size of Mankato to Worthington to make that kind of purchase, Hoffman said.

The clerk checked ID in that particular case, but the customer had already written her ID number on the check. Of course, it turned out to be a false number.

“Make sure the clerk is writing the ID number on the check, not the customer,” Roloff said. “They just change one or two numbers and it slows down the process that much more.”

Often, businesses don’t turn bad checks over to law enforcement for months, which the officers said is a mistake.

“Get ahold of us right away,” Roloff said. “That way we can get things started on our end right away, and not six months after the check was written.”

There is a process set out for bad checks, which includes filling out a fraudulent check report.

The business has to send out a notice and demand of payment, and after 15 days authorities can initiate an investigation.

“We’re not a collections agency and we can’t guarantee restitution – that has to be handled by a judge,” Hoffman said.

“But people shouldn’t get a free pass,” Roloff said. “Maybe the paperhangers will stop if they realize that in Nobles County, people are being prosecuted.”

Roloff and Hoffman admitted that they “learned a little something” while investigating. Normally, bad checks writers act alone. In this case, all of the players know each other and know quite a bit about working the system.

The checks they’ve written have mostly been at gas stations and fast food restaurants, but all area businesses need to be vigilent when it comes to checking IDs before accepting checks.

In this day and age, point of sale transactions have become more and more electronic, with customers running their own cards through machines and paying at pumps, but checking ID would go a long ways toward keeping those checks in balance.

Tags: news, local, authorities, investigate, bounced, checks, crime