Five locals and three others have been indicted for their roles in a conspiracy to create and cash more than $134,000 in counterfeit checks in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to a news release from Beth Phillips, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
A 59-count indictment returned under seal July 21 by a federal grand jury in Springfield charged Lisa Strait-Destefano, 39, of Nixa; Derrick Haggard aka Disco, 34, of Nixa; Dietrich Haggard aka D-Ball, 31, of Springfield; Drew Michael Basten, 23, of Springfield; Lawrence Eidson, 50, of Buffalo; Paul Douglas Jr., 44, of Fort Leonard Wood; Christopher Quale, 26, of St. Robert; and Zachary Skinner, 24, address unknown.
The indictment alleges that each of the eight defendants were involved in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud, create and cash counterfeit checks, and steal mail July 1-Oct. 25, 2010.
The conspiracy - which the indictment states was led by Strait-Destefano and Derrick Haggard - involved using stolen original checks from private mailboxes - primarily businesses, which were then counterfeited.
Derrick Haggard recruited individuals, including his brother, Dietrich Haggard, and Eidson, to steal the mail. He also recruited others, including Douglas, Quale, Eidson, Skinner and Basten, to take the counterfeit checks to financial institutions or commercial establishments to attempt to cash them, the release said.
The check passers were able to cash some of the checks by presenting false identification documents, which used the identities of real people without their permission. The checks were allegedly created by Strait-Destefano, who previously worked in banking, and Derrick Haggard.
The group was successfully able to cash $61,335 in counterfeit checks at financial institutions in the three-state area but failed to cash $73,111, the release said.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall Eggert and was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service; the U.S. Secret Service; the police departments of Springfield, Branson, Hollister, St. Robert, Carthage, Nixa, Troy, Strafford, Union, Washington, Linn, Lebanon, and Neosho in Missouri; the Tulsa Police Department in Oklahoma; the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Christian County Sheriff’s Department; the Greene County Sheriff’s Department; the Fayetteville Police Department in Arkansas; the Arkansas State Police; and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department in Kansas.[[In-content Ad]]
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