Two Bellwood, Ill., residents were arrested Wednesday on a charge of fraud after the U.S. Secret Service said that they were using phony traveler’s checks at regional Target stores to purchase merchandise.

Booked into the Porter County Jail were Quinton Goins, 35, and Latasha Preston, 28.

According to the Valparaiso Police Department, which assisted in the arrest, at 4:48 p.m. an officer was dispatched to the Target in response to a report from the Secret Service that subjects inside in the store were attempting to pass counterfeit checks. On the officer’s arrival, the VPD said, Goins and Preston were already in custody and placed into evidence were eight checks, each in the amount of $100, four dated Jan. 26 and four Jan. 27, and bearing the names of Chase Bank and American Express Travelers Related Services Company Inc. The four checks dated Jan. 27 had been used by Goins and Preston to purchase an iPod for $315.65.

The Secret Service advised the VPD that Goins and Preston used the counterfeit checks to make purchases at Target in amounts under $400, from which they would keep the change. They would then return the merchandise at another Target store for cash, the Secret Service advised.

“Preston had returned a PlayStation 3 video game system today at 4:52 p.m. at the Valparaiso Target, that was purchased earlier on this date at a Target store in Woodfield, Ill., using the counterfeit traveler’s checks,” the VPD said.

After the Woodfield transaction, the VPD said, Goins and Preston made a $400 purchase at the Highland Target and then another $400 purchase at the Merrillville Target, while the Secret Service followed them from one store to the next until the two arrived at the Valparaiso store. There they were taken into custody. A third person with them was released.

Fraud is a Class D felony punishable by a term of six months to three years.

Posted 1/29/2010