DEBARY -- A check fraud and identity theft caper unraveled on Friday in DeBary and landed three people in jail, thanks to an alert bank manager and a speedy response by Volusia County Sheriff's deputies, an agency spokesman said.
Friday's escapade was facilitated by two prior vehicle break-ins -- one in South Florida on June 30 in which a woman's driver's license and bank card were stolen and another on July 28 in Volusia County in which blank checks were taken.
"The stolen property gave the thieves everything they needed to try to pull off the scam," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "Unfortunately for the thieves, Riverside Bank had already been alerted about the theft of the bank card."
It was close to 5:30 p.m. on Friday when three people in an SUV came to the drive-thru at the Riverside Bank on South Charles R. Beall Boulevard attempting to cash two fraudulent checks totaling more than $1,750.
The stolen checks were from the theft in Volusia County and made out to the South Florida victim whose bank card and driver's license had been stolen. When the thieves presented the woman's bank card and stolen driver's license as identification to the teller, the bank manager immediately called the Sheriff's Office, Davidson said.
Deputies began arriving at the bank three minutes later, just as the trio was driving off. Deputies motioned for the driver, 40-year-old Cheryl Hudson of Altamonte Springs, to pull over. That's when the other two other passengers, 29-year-old Travis Campbell and 26-year-old Terrell Campbell, both of Fort Lauderdale, took off running, Davidson said.
"They didn't get far, as responding deputies quickly nabbed the fleeing suspects and then arrested all three," Davidson said. "Hudson later told deputies that the two men had approached her while in Orlando and offered to give her $100 if she agreed to help them cash the checks."
The three were charged with two counts each of passing a forged or altered instrument and two counts each of attempt to use the identification of another without their consent. In addition, the two men were charged with resisting an officer without violence and Hudson was also charged with driving with a suspended or revoked license.