WEST VIRGINIA (WXIN) — A Greene County, Indiana woman was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for her role in writing and cashing checks from a stolen checkbook in West Virginia.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia, Stefanie Marie Wells, 37, of Jasonville, Indiana wrote a $2,700 check from a stolen checkbook and cashed it at a Mount Hope, West Virginia bank on Oct. 19, 2020. Investigators said Wells admitted to getting both the stolen checkbook and a stolen driver’s license sometime before Oct. 19.
Based on court documents and statements made in court, investigators said Wells cashed three more checks totaling $7,400 from the stolen checkbook on Oct. 19 at banks in Beaver, West Virginia; Beckley, West Virginia; and Montgomery, West Virginia.
Wells admitted to trying to cash two other checks worth $4,950 but was unsuccessful at these attempts. She also was unable to withdraw $2,500 from a Summersville bank on Nov. 23, 2020. She used either the stolen checkbook or a stolen license in each incident.
In addition to the 30-month prison sentence for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, Wells was ordered to two years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $10,100 in restitution.
