Do the Crime; Do the Time?
If you watch the papers around the U.S. for check information and trends, as we do, you have probably noticed that many District Attorneys have begun check restitution programs, with the help of outside collection agencies.
Of course there are many rules concerning properly dating checks, merchants' responsibilities for first collection attempts and consumer notices. These programs are also intended for the consumer who simply made a mistake, and by the way, has money for restitution.
Getting local Police and or DA's to pay attention, however, is often a function of the municipality's attitude toward checks as a criminal problem.
Cheryl Melear finally got some justice. And Julie Antoinette Shubert, finally went to jail. At least for a while.
In the high-violence world of heavy-duty crime, the four checks that Shubert forged on Melear's account were penny ante stuff, $440 worth. The police in both Eugene and Springfield Oregon didn't even want to mess with them.
Melear, a 32-year-old hospital aide and mother of four, was as outraged at the official indifference, as at the fact that Shubert almost emptied her checking account. Melear became a modern-day version of "Les Miserables'" Inspector Javert, relentlessly dogging both the DA and the cops, until, Shubert was arrested.
Shubert says she has no regard for the law. She is so sure that she will not be punished for her crimes that she goes through a drive-up bank, forging checks, knowing that she is being captured on video, and using her own ID.
Does Shubert have a reason to be so cavalier? Yes, after her arrest, she was released the same day due to jail overcrowding.
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