Man Admits to Passing $200K in Bad Checks

A Newport Beach man, who has been in and out of prison over the past 20 years for fraud-related convictions, today admitted kiting several checks totaling more than $200,000 and was immediately sentenced to seven years in prison.

Richard Scott Bloustine, 50, pleaded guilty to five counts of grand theft, 10 counts of writing bad checks and taking a car without permission, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche.

Bloustine racked up an $80,000 bill at a dentist’s office in Newport Beach from Nov. 10 to Dec. 13, 2014, and wrote a bad check for $72,000, Labreche said.

On Nov. 13, 2014, Bloustine kited a check for $32,000 as he tried to lease a home in Newport Beach, Labreche said. He then wrote another bad check -- this time for $13,000 -- for furniture in the home, the prosecutor said.

Bloustine also wrote a $15,000 bad check in December of 2014 as a down- payment for a Mercedes-Benz at a Laguna Beach dealership, Labreche said.

After publicity about his arrest in July of last year, investigators found another dentist who was taken for about $80,000, Labreche said.

His criminal history dates back three decades and ranges from “Hawaii to Massachusetts and all points between,” Labreche said.

In 1996, Bloustine was convicted of credit card fraud in Hawaii, Labreche said, and three years later was found guilty of a fraud scheme in Arizona.

In 2004, he was convicted of grand theft, and in 2008, he was convicted again of grand theft and credit card fraud, Labreche said. Both of those cases were in Santa Barbara County, the prosecutor said.

In the current case, Bloustine accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones.

City News Service