How Not To Pass A Forged Check

Photo courtesy Angelina County Jail

Marcus Tyrone Bolt: Plot is foiled

​While we are no experts on the subject, we'd bet it was safe to say that if you are trying to pass a forged check, you probably want to move quick, but not too quick, and not attract attention to yourself.

You just want everything to seem as nice and normal as possible. The heavy lifting for that crime should be on the front end -- in the actual creation of a convincing fake, one that gives you the sort of confidence you need to just swagger up to the counter, get that cash, and walk back out the door, whistling all the while.

Three Houston men pretty much served up an object lesson in how not to do this last week in the East Texas town of Diboll.

It all started when two of the men -- Christopher Dale Cooper, 39, and Marcus Tyrone Bolt, 27 - decided that the best way to cash $4,000 worth of forged checks would be to walk up to the drive-through at Diboll's First Bank and Trust and hand them to the teller through the window.

So you be the bank employee here...

Two guys walk up to the drive-through in the middle of a Thursday afternoon, and each of them has a check for an identical amount from a local business.

Photo courtesy DPS

Roderick Johnson: Still wanted

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We'd probably call the cops too...

Cooper and Bolt were arrested on the spot and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, though we believe that charge should be downgraded to a lesser crime, as a caper this dumb denigrates the very notion of the concept of "organized criminal activity." Police are still seeking a third accomplice -- 43-year-old Roderick Johnson, the alleged getaway driver. Police say Johnson sped off when he saw them bringing the hammer down on his cohorts.

And yes, Cooper and Bolt arrived in a car. Did we forget to mention that? Evidently they deemed it a somehow more cunning plan to hoof it through the drive-through. Why they thought that was a better idea than it to drive like everyone else, or actually go inside and try to pass their hot checks at the counter, is anybody's guess.