Wednesday, February 02, 2000
Lebanon bank out $68K in flimflam
22 men cashed forged checks
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Using stolen payroll checks from a Mason construction firm, nearly two dozen men managed to fleece Lebanon Citizens National Bank out of $68,000 in one day, police said.
FBI agents have joined police in Mason, Lebanon, Hamilton Township and Loveland in trying to identify up to 22 suspects.
Authorities said the alleged check-cashing ring hit four bank branches in Warren and Hamilton counties on Jan. 14.
Police are using bank videotapes and are analyzing fingerprints from the cashed checks through a national crime database in an effort to track down the thieves.
“We are relatively certain they are the same people,” said Loveland Detective Jeff Miller. “There are the same number of people bringing the checks in for the same amount on the same day.”
FBI officials suspect the men may be working for a ringleader, who takes the profits and pays each man based on the number of checks cashed.
“I'm speaking from experience with these kinds of cases. If there are 20 or 25 people out cashing checks, whoever is doing it is probably paying them very little, maybe $50,” Cincinnati FBI spokesman Ed Boldt said.
Detectives said the blank checks, drawn on LCNB, were stolen last month from JK Stucco Inc. on Ohio 741. Company officials could not be reached Tuesday.
The thieves, working in small groups, descended on LCNB branches in the four communities, cashing what appeared to be paychecks for $800 or more, police said.
Hamilton Township Chief Gene Duvelius said the LCNB branch on Ohio 48 in that community alone lost $17,000.
“They wrote several checks to themselves and cashed them. We don't know if the names on the checks were valid,” he said.
To Lebanon Chief Ken Burns, the three men who passed checks at the bank's main office on Broadway Street seemed to be seasoned scam artists.
LCNB President Stephen Wilson said each man would have been required to show identification and to place a fingerprint on the check before the teller cashed it.
Tellers cashed the checks because JK Stucco had its accounts with LCNB, he said.
“They were legitimate checks, but they were forged checks,” Mr. Wilson said, adding the bank is insured against the loss.
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