Clearwater police have arrested a 25-year-old Clearwater man on charges he manufactured checks and then used them to get cash. ...more

March 10, 2009

A check forgery arrest at a supermarket this week has uncovered a trove of fake identification cards and phony checks, authorities say. ...more

February 6, 2009

Pinellas County deputies have concluded the first phase of an operation involving counterfeit check-cashing rings they say created millions of dollars in losses to Florida banks. ...more

November 14, 2008

TAMPA - A Haines City man was sentenced today to 37 months in prison on charges of possessing equipment that was used to make fake documents and Florida drivers' licenses, the U.S. attorney's office said. ...more

June 30, 2008

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested two men on Wednesday who investigators say were part of a ring that produced and cashed counterfeit checks from 2005 to last month. ...more

January 31, 2008

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has made several arrests involving a counterfeit check cashing ring, a sheriff's office news release states. ...more

January 31, 2008

SEBRING — A St. Petersburg woman was sentenced Monday afternoon to three and a half years in prison for attempting to pass counterfeit checks at area businesses last fall. Jessica Elena Garcia, 22, who entered a guilty plea last May to charges of grand theft, possession of counterfeit payment instruments and forgery, received the three-year sentence after prosecutors told Judge Peter Estrada that she was willing to cooperate with them if her co-defendant's case would've gone to trial. Michael Anthony Rosales, of Zolfo Springs, and Garcia were arrested last November after Sebring Police Cpl. Vivian Buck questioned them. Rosales allegedly supplied Garcia with a counterfeit check for $465 to cash at L & M Food Store, located at 1411 Roseland Ave. Garcia was previously in prison on grand theft and burglary charges in Hardee County, and had only been free for 28 days before her arrest with Rosales. Because of parole violations following her Sebring arrest, Garcia received a 44-month prison sentence in Hardee, which Estrada used to sentence her consecutively for the bogus check charges. Because of Garcia's willingness to cooperate with state attorneys, Rosales entered a guilty plea last week at the Highlands County Courthouse and received a 10-year prison sentence from Estrada. ...more

October 30, 2007