For the second time in just over a year, the Chase bank on Nassau Street was targeted by an out-of-state suspect allegedly aiming to cash a fake check.
Kimyada Smith, a 25-year-old woman from Philadelphia, reportedly tried to pass a fake check on Saturday morning at the bank, according to a statement from Borough Police Captain Nicholas Sutter.
But bank employees were on the lookout for Smith, as Chase had alerted its employees that it believed Smith had tried to cash fake checks at other New Jersey branches, Sutter said.
When Smith allegedly tried to cash a check for $1,871.82 at the Princeton branch, a bank employee called the police. Patrol officers arrested Smith on charges of forgery, criminal simulation and attempted theft. All three are indictable offenses.
Smith was released on her own recognizance and is due in court on April 18.
The same Chase bank — located across the street from the Rockefeller College dining hall — was the victim of a second alleged check fraud scheme last year.
On March 17, 2010, a man entered the Chase bank and allegedly tried to cash a fake check using a fraudulently obtained Chase credit card. But bank employees, who had received an internal fraud alert referencing similar incidents, became suspicious of the check.
The man, along with two alleged accomplices, drove off and employees called the police, sparking a town-wide manhunt for the three suspects.
Two suspects were caught on the scene — one had a substantial criminal history that included alleged identity theft — and the third was caught four months later by the U.S. Marshals Service in Brooklyn.
Borough police believe the three were part of a New York City criminal gang operating a multi-state identity and check fraud operation.
Sutter said these two incidents were the only ones at the bank in the past year. But, he said in an email, “I would suspect because Chase is such a large institution with many branches, fraud rings tend to target them.”
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