Woman accused of trying to cash fraudulent check
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IDAHO FALLS — A local woman has been accused of trying to cash a fraudulent check at an Idaho Falls bank.
Malissa Decoria, 30, was charged with felony forgery after the Idaho Falls Police Department got a call from the bank on Monday. According to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by EastIdahoNews.com, Decoria gave the bank a fake check with the business name Idaho Pacific Holdings. Bank employees were alerted because several other fraudulent checks had been recently cashed under that company name.
Officers arrived at the bank lobby to talk to Decoria. She claimed to work for Idaho Pacific Holdings doing “miscellaneous” tasks. She said a friend at the company gave her the check to cash, according to police reports.
By the time police checked with Idaho Pacific Holdings, who said Decoria did not work for them, she had changed her story. In her second version of events, she said another friend gave her $50 to cash the check for him because he did not have an ID card to do so himself.
Decoria told police she did not know the check was fraudulent. Police noted text messages between her and a friend show another business declined to cash the check before going to the bank.
Investigators wrote in their report they are familiar with the friend because he is a suspect in several other check fraud cases in recent weeks.
Although Decoria is accused of a crime, it does not necessarily mean she committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
A preliminary hearing for Decoria is scheduled for Aug. 10 at the Bonneville County Courthouse.