June 16, 2009
For more information contact:
Supervisory AUSA Karen Rhew-Miller
(850) 942-8430
TALLAHASSEE WOMAN CHARGED WITH COUNTERFEIT CHECK FRAUD
TALLAHASSEE -- Thomas F. Kirwin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, today announced that a Tallahassee woman has been arrested on a criminal complaint, charging the knowing receipt of approximately $565,000 in counterfeit cashiers checks, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2315. According to the complaint filed today in the United States District Court in Tallahassee, Jamie Marie Caloway, 49, was arrested on June 15, 2009, after accepting a package containing 170 fraudulent instruments purportedly drawn on Regions Bank, Washington Mutual Bank, and Compass Bank. The package was addressed to Caloway from Togo, West Africa.
According to the complaint, Customs and Border Protection Officers intercepted this package, as well as an earlier package addressed to Caloway, which contained approximately 158 counterfeited checks and Money-Grams, totaling $176,000. The complaint alleges that Caloway deposited similar instruments at a local bank, but that no funds were released or loss incurred. The complaint asserts that authorities have intercepted individual checks sent by Caloway to other persons. The complaint states that two persons claim to have deposited checks to their accounts and to have transmitted monies back to Caloway, before learning that the checks were worthless.
If convicted, defendant faces a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment.
U.S. Attorney Kirwin commended the joint efforts of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, which led to this arrest. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael T. Simpson.
A complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.