Woman charged after allegedly stealing almost $10k from relative in forged checks

Shanaya Peoples | Bonneville County Jail
IDAHO FALLS – A local woman has been charged with multiple felonies after reportedly forging checks to steal almost $10,000 from a relative.
Shanaya Peoples, 26, was charged with felony grand theft of a check and felony forgery after allegedly forging 19 checks.
In July, the relative told Idaho Falls Police that Peoples had forged 19 checks totaling $9,231.85.
The relative told officers she did not write or approve any of the checks.
According to court documents, the relative initially decided not to press charges against Peoples. Other family members told officers that the relative was suffering from dementia and that they had confronted Peoples about stealing and forging the checks.
After Peoples denied knowledge or involvement in the matter, the family told officers they wished to charge Peoples criminally.
Police obtained a search warrant for Peoples’ bank statements and videos of her transactions and found that she had made a police report around the same time, claiming that an unknown person had stolen a check from her relative and deposited it into her own account, according to court documents.
Officers found video of Peoples depositing the check into her own account.
Police then contacted Peoples, who admitted to stealing the checks and depositing them into her account. She told officers that she would steal the checks from her relative’s purse while visiting her home.
She also claimed she had confessed to the relative and arranged to repay half the amount she took.
Peoples also admitted to making a false police report when she started to realize that she “would get in trouble for her account having a negative balance,” according to the police report.
She told officers that the money “mostly went to pay bills, but indicated that she suspected that a mental illness may have contributed to her committing these crimes,” according to court documents.
Peoples was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Courthouse on Dec. 13, and her bond was set to $15,000.
She is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing on Dec. 28.
Though Peoples has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
If convicted, Peoples could face up to 14 years in prison.
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Source: eastidahonews.com