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First
Judicial District Attorney Scott Storey announced grand jury indictments of
three persons in an ongoing identity theft and forgery scheme affecting
residents in Lakewood, Morrison and
Evergreen. The case was prepared by agents of the Colorado Bureau of
Investigation with the participation of the Lakewood and Black Hawk
Police Departments and the Jefferson County Sheriff.
Constance
Kay Matthews (age 42 of Denver), Mathew James
Sweeney (age 41 of Denver) and Sean Thomas
Montgomery (age 29 of Lakewood) were each indicted
for Violation of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act, a class two
felony. According to the racketeering indictment, the trio worked
together to steal mail that contained both checking account numbers and
legitimate checks. The defendants allegedly referred to this conduct as
"mailboxing."
The
indictment alleges that the group then forged the legitimate checks and used
bank account routing numbers to create phony personal checks on a
computer. The forged checks were cashed at banks, casinos, Wal-Mart and
other businesses.
The
indictment alleges that this organized criminal activity continued from
approximately April through October of 2005. During that time, more
than 100 counterfeit checks were passed.
This
type of activity is one reason why we desperately need an Identity Theft bill
in Colorado," said
District Attorney Storey. ""This is the first time we've been
able to indict the participants in a "mailboxing"
scheme under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act. While we were able to
indict this group under the organized crime statutes, we can't always prove
that criminals who steal personal identifying information and checks are
operating in an organized manner. Without that proof, the penalties
aren't high enough to stop this increasingly serious problem."
Mathews
and Sweeney are currently in custody, and a warrant is outstanding for Montgomery. Bond for all
three parties is set at $25,000.
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