UNION CITY, Mo. — A St. Louis man has been ordered to appear in Franklin County Circuit Court next month for issuing thousands of dollars worth of bad checks at a local bank.
The crime occurred in the spring of 2023, according to a probable cause statement from the Washington Police Department.
On March 30, 2023, Cortez R. Nelson-Bey Sr. entered a Washington bank with a check payable to himself in the amount of $1,860.53. The check was cashed and Nelson Bay left the bank. It wasn’t until after he left that employees realized the check was fake.
Over the next two days, Nelson-Bey went to different branches of the Bank of Washington and cashed five more fake checks.
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Each transaction was recorded on surveillance cameras, and Nelson-Bey showed his Missouri ID each time, police said.
Police say Nelson-Bey stole a total of $11,147.73 through his scheme.
Nelson-Bey tried the same tactic at People’s Bank and Trust Co. in Cottleville, Missouri, but it’s unclear whether he succeeded in cashing the bad check.
The Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office charged Nelson Bay with five counts of facilitating forgery. Nelson-Bey was issued a criminal summons and ordered to appear in court on March 26.
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