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OREM — The city of Orem's bank account was frozen after the account and routing information was stolen, police said Monday.
Investigators are looking for two people they believe have been passing fraudulent checks through the city's account. They are asking the public to help them locate Shawn R. Laroque, 36, and Amanda N. Dixon, 36.
"It's caused quite a mess with the city account," said Lt. Craig Martinez. "We had to freeze the account and put a fraud alert on the account. When you have an account that a lot of checks get written out to, it causes quite a headache for the city."
City administrators first noticed the problem when a check intended for a business in south Orem came through with the amount changed from $500 to $1,800, he said. The name was also changed and included a driver's license number.
The same day another check came through that hadn't been sent out by the city yet, Martinez said. The amount had been changed again and was written out to a woman from Texas.
"We're thinking they were just checking running different serial numbers of check numbers," he said.
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Two children were stopped trying to use counterfeit $50 bills for their parents at University Mall, according to Orem police.Martinez said they don't know how the two were able to alter the checks yet, but that the fraudulent checks look just like the city's real checks and include the correct routing and account numbers. More fraudulent checks will probably come through the city, he said.
A city employee who monitors the account noticed the fraud and flagged the second check cashed by Dixon.
"We immediately froze our checking account," said Richard Manning, Orem's director of administrative services. "That lasted about one hour while we implemented some extra security measures."
Detectives were able to trace the first fraudulent check to Laroque through the driver's license number listed on the check, Martinez said. They confirmed his identity with surveillance footage.
The woman from Texas used a Costco card to cash her check so investigators weren't sure what she looked like at first, but were able to find out her identity after talking to relatives, he said.
Family members told police that Laroque and Dixon are together and are transient. They think the two are somewhere in the Salt Lake Valley.
Those with information about the location of Laroque and Dixon can contact the Orem Police Department by calling 801-229-7070.
"We're not super excited that our account number is out there, but that's being dealt with on our end," Martinez said. "We just need the public's help in finding these two because they're going to continue to cause problems for us as long as they're out on the streets." Contributing: Peter Samore and Jed Boal
