Eureka Police believe an unidentified woman may have been working with a group called the Felony Lane Gang when she allegedly cashed two fraudulent checks at Farmers & Merchants Bank, 619 Stockell Drive, in Eureka, police reported.
Officers were called at about 2:20 p.m. July 24 to the bank after the woman allegedly cashed two separate checks for a total of $7,000. The woman cashed the checks at the bank’s drive through, and she was driving a Ford Edge and appeared to be wearing a wig, the report said.
After the checks were cashed, a bank employee contacted the woman whose account the money was taken out of. That woman told the employee that she did not cash any checks, and that she was in the Lake of the Ozarks, where her purse had recently been stolen, according to the report.
Eureka Police learned numerous items had been stolen from vehicles in Eldon, and the Ford Edge had been seen with a 2024 Mitsubishi Outlander which has been linked to the vehicle break-ins, the report said.
After cashing the checks in Eureka, the woman driving the Edge went to the Farmers & Merchants at 1010 Crossroads Place in High Ridge. The woman attempted to cash two more checks there, but the teller didn’t give the woman money after being alerted to potentially fraudulent activity, according to the report.
On July 24, the Des Peres Police arrested three men who were seen driving the Outlander at the West County Center Mall, 80 W. County Center Drive. The next day, Eureka Police searched the Outlander, and they found vanity license plates that had been seen on the Edge, checkbooks, a Florida driver’s license and three wigs, the report said.
One of the wigs appeared similar to the one the woman was wearing when she cashed the two checks at the Farmers & Merchants Bank, according to the report.
Investigators also learned the Outlander had been rented using false identification in Texas, using identification that was stolen on July 16 after vehicles had been broken into, the report said.
On July 28, Eureka Police contacted the Rutland Police in Massachusetts, and Rutland Police officers told them about the Felony Lane Gang. The group cashes fraudulent checks it steals from vehicles by recruiting woman, who then use wigs to make the woman look like the person shown in a stolen driver’s license to cash that person’s checks, according to the report.
As of Aug. 5, the woman who allegedly cashed the fraudulent checks had not been identified, Lt. Brett Grittini said. He asks anyone with information about the scheme to call Eureka Police at 636-938-6600.