Bad check epidemic hits Council Bluffs

Council Bluffs police say they’ve been hit with a rash of stolen and forgedchecks. Detective Al White says it’s happening in several different andunrelated ways. He says some people are stealing checks from mailboxes andcleaning off the ink and forging names on them. White says others followmail trucks and steal new boxes of checks and then forge and cash them. Hesays several thousand dollars in bad checks have turned up at Council Bluffscasinos. White says the rash of bad checks is linked to a familiar problem– the methamphetamine epidemic.White says several arrest warrants are out for the people suspected offorging the checks and several more are expected.