Police break up forgery ring

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

Recently, a simple trip to the dentist became extremely costly for a Lockhart woman.
According to police, Rhonda Pace attempted to pay for dental work at a local dentist”s office with a counterfeit check. The office staff, suspecting the check was counterfeit, called the Lockhart Police Department, who came to the scene

and questioned Pace.
Detectives began a forgery investigation, which to Pace”s Jan. 6 arrest on forgery charges and outstanding warrants.
Police also questioned Pace”s boyfriend, Kevin Bolding about the forgeries. During the questioning, he admitted that he allowed Pace to use his computer equipment to print the counterfeit checks, LPD Chief Frank Coggins said.
Bolding consented to a search of his home, where Coggins said police turned up check-quality paper, a high-quality printer and evidence that the suspect had practiced making the checks before attempting to cash them. He also said they found evidence that she was starting to experiment with false identifications.
The search for the equipment led police to yet another crime.
“Thinking they were going to pick up materials and equipment used to print phony checks, the officers were surprised to find evidence… including cocaine and methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia,” Coggins said.
After the search, Bolding was arrested on possession charges.
“Picking up this pair of criminals was a good lick for our department,” Coggins said. “The responding officers deserve credit for looking beyond the initial call. They asked the right questions and had the experience to recognize this was a much bigger deal than it first appeared.
“These officers saved local businesses some serious financial losses from worthless checks.”