Check fraud ring busted

Staff Report

Law enforcement agencies from Alexandria to Lafayette and Eunice to Opelousas are investigating fraudulent checks totaling up to $100,000 that were cashed at businesses for about a year.
Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said, “We currently have three investigations. We cannot, at this time, say that they are connected or part of a ‘ring.’  The fraudulent method used, however, is similar in all cases.”
Authorities believe the illegal activity has been going on for about a year, and up to $100,000 in fraudulent checks may have been cashed.
Earlier this week, Marcell Terrell Authorlee, 38, of the 200 block of Avenue A in Opelousas was arrested on three counts of identity theft and four counts of monetary instrument abuse. Authorities have identified Authorlee as the ringleader of a fraudulent check cashing ring operating in the Acadiana area.
On Tuesday, Samantha Kemp of the 300 block of JW Deshotel Road in Washington was arrested by the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office on the charge of monetary instrument abuse. Kemp’s photo was posted on the St. Landry Crime Stoppers Facebook page on Monday, and she as named one of the parish’s most wanted fugitives. Eddie Thibodeaux, St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office public information officer and St. Landry Crime Stoppers spokesman, said tips immediately came in after the information was posted online, and Kemp is part of the ring.
On Jan. 27, Kemp cashed a check for $2,998 at Vidrine’s Grocery Store near Lebeau. The check was sent back to the store by the bank, and the bank notified the store owner that the check was counterfeit. When the check was written, the store owner had obtained the name, address, and phone number of the person cashing the check and notified the sheriff’s office of the theft.
Thibodeaux said Kemp was placed in a photo line-up where she was immediately identified by the store owner as the person who cashed the check.
St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said, “I want to take this opportunity to thank the tipsters of Crime Stoppers for coming forward with information on these fugitives. Working together through Crime Stoppers, law enforcement, social media and of course the tipsters, arrests are made and cases are being solved.”
Thibodeaux said there will be more arrests in relation to the check-cashing ring.

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