Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Police last week arrested a woman who, they say, deposited a bogus $47,000 check.
La-dema Taylor, 43, was charged with first-degree attempted aggravated theft, six counts of first-degree forgery, three counts of identity theft, nine counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, six counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and computer crime.
Police arrested her at her home at 1530 Tamarack St., Mountain Shadows Trailer Park, at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 2.
The allegations against Taylor stem from an investigation into the check, which revealed additional crimes, Sweet Home Detective Cyndi Pichardo said.
?She deposited a $47,000 check into a bank account she opened at the time,? Pichardo said. ?The check was a fraudulent check that originated out of Canada.?
The alleged scam was similar to the Nigerian scam that infests e-mails promising millions of dollars for help in transferring funds to the United States, Pichardo said.
Taylor obtained the check after conversing with someone over the Internet, Pichardo said. That person sent the check to her, and she deposited it on behalf of that person. She was supposed to keep 20 percent of the total and deposit the funds into a bank account on behalf of the other person.
The second person has not yet been identified, Pichardo said.
?Once I got going in the investigation, I learned that there were several crimes,? Pichardo said. She said she learned of three victims throughout Oregon whose mail Taylor allegedly diverted .
Taylor is accused of receiving ?convenience checks? in the victims? names and depositing them into her bank account, Pichardo said.
Taylor was transported to Linn County Jail and released the same day.
The investigation is continuing, with the case forwarded to the FBI and Secret Service. Mail could be diverted by filling out a change of address card, Pichardo said.
The U.S. Postal Service sends letters to the new address and the old address confirming any address changes, said Foster Postmaster Bob Barnes. Postal customers should watch for those letters and report any problems to the Postal Service.
Individuals should also watch for any changes in receiving their regular mail, Pichardo said. If a person is missing a bill that comes at a specific time of the month, it could mean a problem like this.
Persons should stay on top of their personal information, order a credit report regularly and password protect their credit profiles.
To password protect a credit profile, an individual must contact each of the three credit reporting bureaus, Pichardo said. That way, when a criminal attempts to apply for a credit card in someone else?s name, a store clerk would need to ask for a password. The criminal will be unable to complete the impersonation.
For more information, go to http://www.ftc.gov and click on the identity theft link, which will take a web user to the http://www.consumer.gov website.
Following is contact information for each of the three credit bureaus:
– Equifax: 1-800-525-6285; http://www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
– Experian: 1-888-EXPERIAN (397-3742); http://www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
– TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289; http://www.transunion.com; P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790