Alleged Wig-Wearing Check Casher Caught, Police Say

ASBURY PARK, NJ — It took alert bank tellers and a chase, but authorities believe the wig-wearing woman wanted in connection with attempts to cash stolen checks at several banks is finally in custody, Asbury Park police said late Thursday night.

The woman was carrying identification saying she is Brooke B. Slade, 43, from Arizona, Asbury Park Sgt. Michael Casey said. Casey said and authorities believe she is the same woman sought by police in Toms River and Wall townships in connection with car burglaries and the fraud attempts.

Casey said Asbury Park police were called to the PNC branch at 810 Sunset Ave. at 4:07 p.m. for a woman at the drive-up teller window trying to make a withdrawal with fraudulent identification and stolen debit cards. Bank staff told police they believed the woman to be the same one who attempted to commit fraud at several other bank locations recently, Casey said.

As Officer Lemar Whittaker arrived, he saw a dark silver-colored Nissan sedan in one of the lanes to the drive-up window, Casey said, but when the woman spotted police, she drove off. Whittaker tried to follow her but she made several evasive maneuvers and he lost sight of the car, Casey said.

At 4:22 p.m., police were called about a woman trespassing at 601 Heck St., Casey said, which was in the area where Whittaker had last seen the suspect's car. By the time police arrived at the Heck Avenue address, the woman was gone, but they were told the woman, who was on foot, had removed a license plate from a vehicle in the parking lot and then had run off.

Whittaker, who responded to the trespassing call with other police officers, was able to confirm the vehicle to be the same one from the bank, Casey said. The responding officers saturated the area and were able to locate the woman in the 500 block of Asbury Avenue, he said.

Slade was positively identified as the woman seen driving the car at the bank as well as the woman from the Heck Street incident and arrested, Casey said.

She is charged criminally with eluding, two counts of receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled dangerous substance (an unspecified amount of Xanax), and trespassing, and with motor vehicle violations for reckless driving, driving without a license, two counts of failure to stop for a stop sign, fictitious plates, failure to signal and failure to maintain lane, Casey said.

"Ms. Slade is suspected to have committed numerous acts of fraud throughout various jurisdictions and is believed to be the same person of interest out of Toms River and Wall Township," Casey said.

He said she was to be taken to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution to await a court date.

Asbury Park Police did not release an arrest photo of Slade Thursday night.

Photo of the suspect wanted in the Toms River and Wall fraud cases; photo courtesy of Toms River Police