Four Louisiana residents were arrested and faced check fraud charges for their involvement in a check fraud scheme at a local Walmart, reports The NewsStar. The four, ranging in ages 21 through 29, were charged with criminal conspiracy and monetary instrument abuse.
Police reports state that officers were called to a Walmart in West Monroe to investigate complaints of four customers attempting to cash fake checks. A Walmart employee told police that they had cashed checks made out to the unnamed company before and that the company’s checks turned out to be fake.
The checks totaled a little over $5,300. The suspects told police that a man, who was unidentified in police reports, told them they would each pocket $300 for cashing the checks. They were instructed to meet the man at the gas pumps in front of the Walmart after cashing the checks, where he would be waiting. According to police, the man reportedly told one of the suspects that he needed the checks cashed because the new company he worked for needed to show they had many employees.
The four suspects were arrested at the Walmart and booked at the Ouachita Correctional Center.
In Colorado, these four suspects would face heavy fines and lengthy jail terms. The severity of their punishment would depend on the events leading up the arrest and whether these four individuals had any prior arrests or convictions. Check fraud in Colorado is punishable by as much as $1,000 in fines for a misdemeanor conviction and $15,000 for a felony conviction. Jail terms can be a minimum of 3 months to as long as 10 years. A Colorado criminal defense attorney would do all he could to get these suspect a reduced sentence if possible.
It appears that suspects themselves are victims, because they thought the checks were legitimate. Still, they participated in act of deception on the part of the unidentified man and the supposedly new company he worked for. That will impact any chance of a reduced sentence. A good Colorado criminal defense attorney would prepare these suspects for every possible outcome in this type of case.
