Glencoe police have charged An Attalla woman and a Birmingham area man in connection with a forgery and identity theft scheme.
29 year old Naomi Victoria Battles, and 34 year old Ronald Bembery III, of Fairfield, were arrested by Glencoe Police. Battles was charged with four counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument and Bembery was charged with one count of second-degree possession of a forged instrument and identity theft. The charges stem from an investigation that began on Dec. 21 after counterfeit checks were cashed on the account of Meadowood Retirement Center in Glencoe. Five checks, payable to three different people for the total of $3,925.55, were cashed several grocery stores in the Gadsden area.
It was determined that checks written to Battles for a total of $3,258.92. During the investigation, it was determined another man from the Birmingham area allegedly went to a motel room in Gadsden and printed the first five checks from his laptop with information about Meadowood, where Battles previously had worked. It was determined that the names on three of the first five checks made in November were those of two men listed on driver’s licenses that had been stolen in the Montgomery and Selma areas. Those men were victims of identity theft. Bembery was arrested Feb. 2 on a traffic stop while attempting to leave the Attalla area to return to Fairfield.
Battles was taken into custody the following morning.
On Jan. 29, the man who allegedly made the checks in Gadsden and Attalla was taken into custody by a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy at the Bessemer Walmart. He was found to have more than 50 identifications on him and was charged with trafficking in identity.
The investigation is ongoing and other arrests are pending.
