IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Three suspects were arrested Wednesday after allegedly trying to cash forged payroll checks in Iredell County, the sheriff stated.
They stole more than $130,000 since early May. Two others are at large, according to investigators.
The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office got a call on Wednesday about men cashing fraudulent checks at the convenience store at 104 Houpe Road, north of Statesville.
Convenience store employees told the police they called the business, EW Fabrication and Manufacturing in Stony Point, from where the checks came and asked if they were real.
The checks were not real and had been used since the first of May to get over $130,000.
That business contacted the sheriff’s office to file a report about the checks being stolen and forged.
Cody Dellinger, vice president of EW Fabrication and Manufacturing, showed Channel 9’s Dave Faherty how closely the counterfeit check resembles one of their real payroll checks.
“The question of how,” Dellinger said. “How could they do it? You think that the system is fairly safe with checks and balances to catch this, and this was happening under our nose the whole time and we were completely unaware.”
Three suspects returned to the convenience store later in the afternoon and tried to pass more checks, so employees called the sheriff’s office.
Deputies found three suspects, Juan Dario Carcomo, Ezequiel Cruz Garcia, and Merin Arnoldo Sorto-Mata, but they ran.
Law enforcement put up a perimeter and K-9s were there to track the suspects.
Two were caught right away.
The third suspect was found but he resisted the deputies, so they Tased him.
K-9s Levi and Creek tracked the suspects down. It was Creek’s first apprehension, the sheriff said.
Deputies believe the suspects may have been using other Hispanic stores in the area to cash the checks.
The manager of Tienda Rios De Agua Viva, Oscar Salazar, showed Faherty surveillance video of one of the suspects in his store. The manager said he came up with an excuse not to cash it.
“I said, ‘Sorry, I can’t cash them because I don’t have money,’” Salazar said.
The business in Stony Point hopes to recoup its money.
Carcamo, 29, of Manvel, Texas, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor resist, obstruct, and delay of a law enforcement officer, felony conspiracy, two counts of felony uttering a forged instrument, and felony possession and transporting a counterfeit instrument. Magistrate M. Russel gave him a secured bond of $10,000.
Sorto-Mata, 23, of Houston, was charged with felony conspiracy, and two counts of misdemeanor resist, obstruct, and delay of a law enforcement officer. Magistrate Russel issued him a secured bond of $6,500 and he was placed on an immigration hold.
Cruz Garcia, 23, of Statesville, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor resist, obstruct, and delay of an officer, misdemeanor assault on a law enforcement officer, and felony conspiracy. Magistrate Russel issued him a secured bond of $15,000 and the suspect was placed on an immigration hold.
Javier Cortez and Junior Mendez were charged with fraud and felony warrants are out on them.
The investigation is ongoing, and additional charges may be pending.
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