Police say woman cashed fraudulent checks at Bloomington currency exchange – Bloomington Pantagraph

Currency News

Police say woman cashed fraudulent checks at Bloomington currency exchange

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Crime

Identity theft, forgery — A 49-year-old woman remains in McLean County jail in lieu of posting $7,535 on identity theft, burglary and forgery charges.

Court documents indicate on two separate dates, Christy Benton went to West Market Currency Exchange in Bloomington and cashed two checks that investigators determined to be fraudulent.

One check was made out in the amount of $8,578 and the other was for $7,462. Police said a driver’s license used as identification was not legal.

Police identified a Texas woman as being the victim of identity theft and was not in Illinois at the time of the incidents.

Benton implied an unidentified male was also involved in the scheme. No other arrests were made in this incident as of Saturday.

Benton was charged with identity theft between $10,000 and $100,000, a Class 1 felony, two counts of Class 2 felony burglary charges, theft by deception, and two forgery charges. She is scheduled to be arraigned March 13.

Contact Kevin Barlow at (309) 820-3238. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_barlow