Four Texas men were recently arrested and charged with felonies for conspiring together to travel to different states to cash fake checks and split the money between them, according to Chubbuck police and court records.
Quinton Jamal Hawkins, 28, Johntay Taylor, 25, Anthony Mares, 30 and Kemon Witt, 30, all of Forth Worth, Texas, have each been charged with felony passing of fictitious bills and felony conspiracy to make and pass forged checks following an incident in the Pocatello area last week.
Police seized nearly $14,000 from the men and the vehicle they were driving following the investigation, police records show.
The incident began to unfold around 1:47 p.m. on Aug. 3 when Chubbuck police were dispatched to Citizens Community Bank at 850 W. Quinn Rd. for the report of a man attempting to cash a fraudulent check, according to police and court records the Idaho State Journal obtained Tuesday.
The bank teller told police the driver’s license that was being used to cash the check was fake and had been flagged at a Citizens Community Bank in Montana on July 26 during an incident involving a fraudulent check, authorities said.
While officers were en route to the scene, police dispatch was advised that a man with medium length dreadlocks who was attempting to cash the bad check had fled the bank, entered a black and blue Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and turned onto Yellowstone Avenue, police said.
A Chubbuck police officer in an unmarked patrol car followed the Tahoe as it turned onto the eastbound lanes of Interstate 86 in Chubbuck until an Idaho State Police trooper in a marked patrol vehicle was able to respond as well, police said.
The Tahoe merged onto Interstate 15 and headed southbound before a traffic stop was initiated by police at the freeway’s South Fifth Avenue exit, police said.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as Witt, and the front passenger was identified as Taylor, said police, adding that Hawkins and Mare were sitting in the back passenger seats.
A Chubbuck police officer requested Hawkins, who matched the description of the person attempting to cash the fraudulent check, step out of the Tahoe while an Idaho State Police trooper spoke to the driver and front passenger.
Hawkins told police that Witt and Taylor are his cousins and Mare is a friend of his cousins’ that he did not know.
Hawkins told police all four of the men left Fort Worth, Texas, on Aug. 1 and arrived in Southeast Idaho on Aug. 2, authorities said. Hawkins told officers the four were on a road trip together and were gambling at casinos along the way.
Eventually the officer informed Hawkins he was the suspect in a fraudulent check cashing incident and Hawkins replied, “If that’s what they’re saying happened, it’s true.”
Another officer arrived on the scene with the fraudulent check that was dated July 28 and was for the amount of $4,754, police said.
Hawkins then advised officers that he had $3,000 in cash in his wallet and the officer informed him he was being detained for further questioning, according to police.
Chubbuck police and Idaho State Police conversed on the scene about the incident and state police explained Mares had admitted that the four suspects were all traveling from Texas with the intent to cash fraudulent checks and split all the money they received, authorities said.
All four suspects were then detained and questioned at the Idaho State Police District 5 headquarters in Pocatello.
Officers searched all four of the men as well as their Tahoe.
Inside Hawkins’ wallet, officers located $3,742 and a fake credit card, a total of $1,896 was located in Mares’ wallet, $867 was located in Witt’s wallet and another $3,500 was located inside of his sock, police said. About $3,800 was located inside a black bag that was on Taylor’s person initially but left inside of the vehicle when he was ordered out of the Tahoe, police added.
All four men were subsequently arrested and charged with felony passing fictitious checks and conspiracy to make and pass forged bank notes before being transported to the Bannock County Jail in Pocatello.
The felony conspiracy charge against each man states Taylor, Witt, Hawkins and Mares “conspired and agreed to travel to different states for the purpose of passing fake checks and splitting the cash made.”
All four men appeared for separate arraignment hearings in front of 6th District Judge Todd Garbett on Aug. 4 during which their bonds were set at $50,000 each.
All four men are due back in court for separate preliminary hearings on Aug. 16, during which prosecutors will attempt to prove there is enough evidence against them to elevate the cases from the magistrate to district court level for trials.
The penalty for a conspiracy charge in Idaho is the same as the initial crime they are alleged to have committed, which in this case is the felony passing of fictitious checks.
If convicted of both the felony passing fictitious checks charge and the felony conspiracy charge, each man faces no less than two years and up to 28 years in prison.