Fraudulent Check Scheme Ends at Carmichael Bank

A Carmichael bank employee’s sharp eyes resulted in the arrest last week of a Sacramento woman and the abrupt end to a check fraud scheme that may have been going on a while.

The unnamed employee at the Chase Bank in the 6900 block of Fair Oaks Blvd. in Carmichael grew suspicious of a $1,500 check handed to her by Renee Nichole Robinson, 21, of Sacramento on Friday afternoon, according to Sacramento County sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.

The check had been drawn on a valid account, but had been fraudulently made out to Robinson by one of two cohorts that had allegedly driven with her to the bank that afternoon. When deputies arrived, Robinson was apprehended, but her two unidentified accomplices fled.

Ramos said Robinson, arraigned Tuesday in Sacramento Superior Court, made a statement to deputies in which she admitted her guilt and identified the other suspects, whom she met with in a parking lot to plan the fraud.

According to Robinson, she gave her identification to one suspect, who then left and came back a few hours later with the fraudulent check, which was drawn on the Sunrise Terrace Mobile Home Park’s account. The financial administrator for the business confirmed that the check was a fake, while the company’s financial manager said several other fraudulent checks to the same account had been cashes at various banks in the Sacramento area within the past several hours.

Ramos said the case would now be handled by financial crimes investigators in the department’s detective division.

“They will look into it, because there was previous fraudulent activity on this same account,” Ramos explained. “It is possible that the suspect could incur additional charges stemming from prior incidents of passing fraudulent checks.”