A 47-year-old Milwaukee woman is facing charges after she allegedly cashed a forged check at a Wauwatosa bank she claimed came from an auto title loan.
Jeannie A. McKinney was charged Saturday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one count of identity theft for financial gain. If convicted, she faces up to six years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
According to the criminal complaint:
On March 7, McKinney went to , 6950 W. State St., where she cashed a check for $4,490 payable to Georgia McKinney. She presented her ID for the transaction and received her money.
The money had been drawn from an account held by Cottonwood Financial Wisconsin LLC and it was later determined to be forged. Investigators then discovered McKinney went to another bank on March 20 and tried to cash a check for $1,890 from the same account, but left the bank after the check was declined.
McKinney was interviewed by and she said she got the money from an auto title loan she got in Waukesha, but didn’t remember which of her vehicles she got the loan on.
She claimed the second check that she tried to cash was also from an auto title loan, however, the Cottonwood Financial informed investigators it doesn’t give out checks of less than $2,000.
She will make her initial appearance in court Oct. 5.
