Check Fraud Los Angeles County

An Internal Revenue Service auditor and his roommate face felony charges in an alleged attempt to pass bad checks with phony identification at a City of Industry home furnishings store. Hugh Ramirez, 26, and his roommate, Carlos Quezada, 30, were arrested at the Ikea store in the 17000 block of Gale Avenue after the cashier noticed they had given her fake identification, sheriff's spokeswoman Britta Tubbs said.

The district attorney's office has decided there is insufficient evidence to charge a Pasadena pastor with any crime after a police investigation into whether he knowingly deposited a bad check for $87,000, authorities said Tuesday. The Rev. William Turner became the subject of a police probe in May after he deposited the check and drew on the amount before bank officials became aware the check was counterfeit, Pasadena police said.

Authorities said Monday they were expanding their probe into a nationwide counterfeit travelers check and credit card ring as they released from custody three of five suspects arrested last week in the Valley-based scam. Suzanne Childs, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, said prosecutors believe the number of people involved in the counterfeit ring could multiply. "We believe there is a significantly larger number of people," she said.

Six men accused in a counterfeit travelers check scam were being held Friday at County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail each after authorities arrested them in a sting. Det. Mike Christensen with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department said the men had been passing phony $100 Thomas Cook travelers checks at Thousand Oaks shops and mall stores for more than a year. The London-based Thomas Cook Group is the world's largest supplier of travelers checks outside the U.S.

Two women and a man who tried to cash a stolen check in a bank Thursday ran into the wrong teller--the mother of the robbery victim, Burbank police reported. Kathleen Egan, a teller at the Bank of America branch at 303 Glenoaks Blvd. was approached by Khalia Shahid, 31, of Lake View Terrace, who tried to cash an $800 check made out to herself, Officer Jeff Goenner said. But the transaction hit a snag when Egan "looked at the check and realized it was her daughter's check," Goenner said.

A sports memorabilia show promoter, who was charged with writing bad checks to such sports celebrities as Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks and the Dodgers' Steve Garvey and Don Drysdale, has pleaded guilty. Paul Howard Hammack, 44, who called himself Ernest Dent when he organized a memorabilia show that attracted thousands of fans to the Pasadena Center in September, 1990, entered the plea Friday in Pasadena Superior Court to 19 felony counts and one misdemeanor.

Prosecutors filed an array of charges Monday against five alleged members of a nationwide travelers-check and credit-card counterfeiting ring, including three residents of the San Fernando Valley.

Authorities are on the lookout for fake Torrance city payroll checks after two were cashed at a San Pedro liquor store. "If they went to the trouble of making up a check that looks authentic, they wouldn't have made just a few," Torrance Treasurer Thomas C. Rupert said. Police Detective Jeff Harris said he anticipates that more checks will surface. Two men cashed the checks for $276 and $278 Saturday at Scheffler Liquor, 230 S. Gaffey St.

Federal agents arrested Montana "freemen" associate M. Elizabeth Broderick and four alleged accomplices Thursday, capping a six-month multi-agency investigation into the fiery tax resister who authorities say raked in $1.5 million from a phony check scheme. Federal prosecutors contend that Broderick, 52, has donned the mantle of the burgeoning "patriot movement" to fleece thousands of mostly blue-collar clients by selling allegedly worthless checks, perhaps stashing the money in foreign banks.

Expressing deep dissatisfaction with the state's "three strikes" law, a Santa Monica Superior Court judge has nevertheless let stand the sentence of a check forger facing 25 years to life in prison. Last week, Judge Leslie W. Light expressed misgivings about the controversial statute and promised to reconsider the sentence he imposed on Michael Leon James, a 30-year-old career criminal convicted in October of attempted check forgery.

Two San Fernando Valley residents were among the members of a massive counterfeiting ring indicted on federal charges for manufacturing fraudulent American Express charge cards and traveler's checks, according to authorities. Charles S. Radford, 41, was arrested last week, one of 10 indicted by the federal grand jury Aug. 20. But officials are still looking for Granada Hills resident Shashona Carter, 28, in connection with the operation that cost the credit card company at least $1.

Adding to imprisoned tax resister M. Elizabeth Broderick's legal woes, state authorities have filed 45 fraud and grand theft charges against her involving a pyramid scheme she allegedly operated before turning to what federal authorities call a phony check scheme inspired by the Montana "freemen." Broderick, 53, of Palmdale, cheated about 900 investors out of thousands of dollars through her California Gold Co.

Adding to imprisoned tax resister M. Elizabeth Broderick's legal woes, state authorities have filed 45 fraud and grand theft charges against her for a pyramid scheme she allegedly operated before turning to what federal authorities call a phony check scheme inspired by the Montana "freemen." Broderick, 53, of Palmdale, cheated about 900 investors out of thousands of dollars through her California Gold Co.

A routine court hearing erupted into a verbal duel Wednesday between Montana "freemen" disciple M. Elizabeth Broderick of Palmdale and the federal judge who will preside over her trial on fraud and conspiracy charges. "I'm putting you on notice that you are proceeding without jurisdiction or venue," said Broderick, who claims she has renounced her U.S. citizenship and need not answer to the federal government.

Federal agents arrested Montana "freemen" associate M. Elizabeth Broderick and four alleged accomplices Thursday, capping a six-month multi-agency investigation into the fiery tax resister who authorities say raked in $1.5 million from a phony check scheme. Federal prosecutors contend that Broderick, 52, has donned the mantle of the burgeoning "patriot movement" to fleece thousands of mostly blue-collar clients by selling allegedly worthless checks, perhaps stashing the money in foreign banks.

In the wake of a federal investigation and a judge's warning that her activities may constitute bank and mail fraud, M. Elizabeth Broderick was a no-show at her own seminar Sunday, which still drew nearly 500 people from across the nation to Lancaster hoping to hear her detail her methods for paying off debts for free.

Adding to imprisoned tax resister M. Elizabeth Broderick's legal woes, state authorities have filed 45 fraud and grand theft charges against her involving a pyramid scheme she allegedly operated before turning to what federal authorities call a phony check scheme inspired by the Montana "freemen." Broderick, 53, of Palmdale, cheated about 900 investors out of thousands of dollars through her California Gold Co.

The district attorney's office has decided there is insufficient evidence to charge a Pasadena pastor with any crime after a police investigation into whether he knowingly deposited a bad check for $87,000, authorities said Tuesday. The Rev. William Turner became the subject of a police probe in May after he deposited the check and drew on the amount before bank officials became aware the check was counterfeit, Pasadena police said.

The owner of an Oxnard topless bar was sentenced Friday to six months in jail for writing bad checks for work done at his business. John Gray, 38, already has paid the $16,000 restitution for the bad checks, and he pledged in court through his attorney to repay anyone else who lost money because of his actions. He will begin serving his jail sentence after he is released from federal custody for an unrelated case in which he made a false statement to get a contract with the Navy.

Authorities said Monday they were expanding their probe into a nationwide counterfeit travelers check and credit card ring as they released from custody three of five suspects arrested last week in the Valley-based scam. Suzanne Childs, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, said prosecutors believe the number of people involved in the counterfeit ring could multiply. "We believe there is a significantly larger number of people," she said.