Wareham Thief Arrested After Losing Wallet with Stolen Checks
WAREHAM — A West Wareham woman faces a litany of charges after allegedly cashing stolen checks, stealing credit cards, and then losing her own wallet containing the stolen cards and checks.
Wareham Police were alerted by a resident on February 6 that they had not received new checks they had ordered. The resident's bank informed them that not only had they sent the checks, but two of them had already been cashed. Police began working with bank investigators and found that more stolen checks had been received by the institution. The checks were made out to a West Wareham resident.
Police expanded their investigation after learning that more checks from a local business had been made out to the same West Wareham individual. The checks had been cashed or deposited into the individual's account at multiple banks in Wareham and the Upper-Cape area.
As the case began nearing an arrest, Wareham Police received a call from the local T.J. Maxx store regarding a found wallet on February 13. Police inspected the wallet and found that it contained checks from numerous banks and multiple credit cards with different names on them. Some of the checks were from the original victim and business. Police contacted the legitimate owners of the credit cards, none of whom were aware that their cards had been stolen.
Police determined that the owner of the found wallet was the same West Wareham resident they had been investigating for cashing stolen checks. Over $2,000 had been stolen from just one of the victims.
On February 15, Wareham Police Detectives located the suspect, Lauren Narhuminti, 23, of 6 Carmichael Way, in the area of 191 Main Street. Narhuminti was arrested and charged with the following:
- Larceny over $1,200 by single scheme
- Receiving stolen property under $1,200
- Uttering a false check (four counts)
- Receiving a stolen credit card
Narhuminti was arraigned on Friday in Wareham District Court.