Authorities nab 12 in Delco fake-check probe

The checking-account number was accurate, but the word

commissioners

was misspelled. On another check, the words

dollar

and

hundred

were spelled wrong.

The Delaware County District Attorney's Office displayed the checks yesterday along with boxes of envelopes, blank checks, sheets of stamps, a home computer, and a printer. The items were seized during investigations into three groups that allegedly printed counterfeit checks worth "hundreds of thousands" of dollars, authorities said.

Overall, 12 individuals were charged with forgery and conspiracy and related crimes in cases that, investigators say, reach across the country.

At one point, detectives serving a search warrant on an East Lansdowne home walked in on two defendants who were sitting at home computers and creating counterfeit checks.

"Frankly, that is as sophisticated as one with criminal intent need be to get in the business of writing or creating fraudulent documents," District Attorney G. Michael Green said, pointing to the display of evidence.

In the first case, Josephine J. Ilisco, 33, and Marilyn Pena, 50, both of East Lansdowne, allegedly operated a number of schemes and had ties to a California counterfeiting group. The checks used had a variety of company and account names, Green said.

One scheme placed ads for Secret Shoppers. The respondents would be asked to perform a service and were paid more than they were due, usually around $4,000. The shoppers then were instructed to deposit the checks in their own accounts, and forward the overage back to the counterfeiters. The checks the shoppers had received eventually would bounce.

In the second case, police said, PNC Bank notified the Delaware County Court Financial Services that its checks were being counterfeited.

Allegedly cashing checks from the Delaware County Commissioners Collection at small check-cashing stores, police said, were Carl Michael Maxie, 34, of Coatesville; James G. Holmes, 38, of Darby; David C. Johnson, 26, of Coatesville; and Karl Smith, 38, of Chester. In some cases, the checks were drawn from "the County of Delaware, Commisioners [sic] Collection."

In the third case, charges were filed against Qadirah Belgrave, 29, of Chester; Lafel Cornelius Crawford, 36, of Wilmington; Wendy Davis, 45, of Chester; Kenisha Price, 30, of Chester; Juanita T. Reynolds, 35, of Claymont, Del.; and Craig T. Robertson, 31, of Chester.

The group allegedly cashed checks, fraudulently made out in their names, to be drawn from the Inmate Trust Fund of the Geo Group, a company that once operated the Delaware County prison. The account used was legitimate, set up to return money to prisoners when they left the jail, police said.

Green called the three cases good examples of identity theft. He said the task force set up to handle the counterfeit cases and ongoing investigations included inspectors from the U.S. Postal Service, who will be able to help with crimes in other states.

"I can't investigate crimes outside of Delaware County," Green said.