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Suspect held in bad-check scheme
By CHRIS TISCH © St. Petersburg Times, published February 1, 2001 In the end, detectives said, James Hines was glad to be caught. He looked forward to a jail cell. He feared the crack cocaine and the street would kill him, investigators said. For at least five months, Hines -- who is homeless -- was the workhorse of a check-theft operation that began every day in downtown Tampa, detectives said Wednesday. The ring leaders picked up Hines in a designated meeting area, gave him a check they had stolen from a local business and took him to a bank, where he cashed the stolen check, investigators say. After the transaction, detectives said, Hines handed the cash to the others, as much as $3,400 a pop. For each check he cashed, no matter the amount, he got to keep $100. Hines blew his profit on crack cocaine, according to detectives. Investigators said Hines, 33, did this at least 40 times in the Tampa Bay area in the past five months. He hit Pinellas County banks at least 30 times, with a take of more than $25,000, said Pinellas County Sheriff's Detective Robert Somers. Detectives say Hines was a runner who used his own ID and thumbprint to cash the checks just so he could quench his addiction. The ringleaders dispatched him into banks in five counties, investigators say. "It was a quick 100 bucks. He knew the scam," Somers said. "He was the victim of a narcotics habit." Hines had become so prolific that the banks were looking out for him. On Tuesday, deputies arrested him as he tried to cash a check at a bank on East Lake Road. Detectives charged him with 11 bank crimes in addition to resisting arrest. Investigations in several area counties are ongoing, with more charges likely, Somers said. "The phone's ringing off the hook from detectives across the state asking about him," said Somers, who added that banks also have been reporting more potential cases. "The cases were rolling in." Somers said he is searching for the ringleaders, but doesn't yet know who they are. He suspects there at least three of them, and probably multiple groups. The scam to start the whole thing off is this: The ringleaders go into a business and pretend to be interested in merchandise. One will start talking to the owner or employee, the other will ask to use the restroom. While the employee is showing off a used car or a vacuum cleaner, the other person sneaks into the office and tears checks from the books. It happened to Brett Phillips and Kenneth Kennedy, co-owners of Big Boyz Toyz, an auto repair business in Tarpon Springs. Though they don't know when the thieves took the checks, Phillips said he noticed in a Nov. 3 statement that a check had been made out for $2,162. He looked in the checkbook and found four checks missing. They were ripped from the middle of the deck so it would be hard for anyone to notice. The check was made out to James Hines. Kennedy's name had been forged. "It's very unnerving," Phillips said Wednesday. He said checks were stolen a few years ago. They keep their checks locked now. The 34 checks Hines forged in Pinellas County were stolen from 12 businesses, Somers said. He said the ringleaders are professional, using rental cars to camouflage their identities. "They're very careful," he said. "It looks like they've been doing this awhile." After cases began building up, Somers put out an alert to banks to be on the lookout for Hines. Just after noon Tuesday, Hines walked into the SunTrust Bank, 3500 East Lake Road, and tried to cash a forged check, according to arrest reports. Because SunTrust employees had been communicating about the crimes, they knew something was wrong and called deputies. Hines ran, but was caught at a nearby shoe store, arrest reports state. Lisa Schultz, vice president of corporate communications for SunTrust, said she couldn't say what tipped employees off. But she said the bank takes measures to help capture people who forge checks. "We don't tattoo the person's picture on our tellers' arms, but we take it very seriously," she said.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
