Woman Charged with Possession of Stolen Checks

A St. Paul woman is charged with possession of stolen checks after an Oakdale man she was renting a room from reported that she allegedly used checks of his from a closed account.

Melinda Marie Adams, 36, allegedly had other stolen checks in her room at the home in the 6900 block of Upper Fifth Street, according to the Washington County District Court complaint.

According to the complaint, the owner of the home first called police in September of last year. He reported that he received a demand notice from a St. Paul gas station for a check issued to the station from his closed checking account, the complaint says. He suspected Adams, because she had access to his house and could have found the old checks, the complaint says.

A little more than a week later, police executed a search warrant at the home, and found checks with two other men’s names on them among Adams’ belongings, the complaint says.

The officer spoke with the two men named on the checks. One of them said Adams stole his checks after they ended a relationship. The other one said he had the checks in a storage room in his apartment building, and someone broke into the storage room and stole the checks and other items, the complaint says.

 Adams is charged with one count of possession or sale of a counterfeit check, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Adams is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 9.