By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Police say personal information stolen from mailboxes, cars and other places ended up at a Centralia residence where it was used to write phony and forged checks, based on the items they found when they conducted a search today.
The Centralia Police Department SWAT team assisted detectives when they served a search warrant today on the 1700 block of Harrison Avenue, in space 30, according to a news release.
The action followed a lengthy investigation into forged and counterfeit checks passed in the greater Centralia area, according to police. The news release described the number of victims or potential victims only as as numerous.
Police said the checks were written against existing accounts without the knowledge of the account holders. Detectives traced the checks to individuals residing at the home, according to the news release.
Three people were arrested. They include Erica D. McCleary, 33, of Centralia, for forgery and identity theft and Ronald W. McNeal, 50, of Centralia, for possession of methamphetamine.
A third person was arrested for an unrelated outstanding bench warrant, according to police. She is April L. Busby, 34, of Rochester.
Among the items detectives discovered were computers, hard drives, so-called thumb drives, CDs and documentation consistent with the suspected operation, according to police.
Also found in the home was identification of victims and would-be victims such as credit cards, tax returns, social security numbers, the news release noted.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter