Friday, May 30, 2014
Staff report
BOARDMAN
Police arrested a Michigan woman on several charges tied to her attempt to pass a forged check under a stolen identity.
Authorities finally identified the woman as Brianna-Lashay Victoria Howard of Detroit. She was arrested on charges of misdemeanor obstructing official business, a warrant on a parole violation from Michigan, receiving stolen property, identity fraud, forgery, criminal simulation and passing bad checks.
She also received a misdemeanor citation for possession of a small amount of suspected marijuana. She was arrested at Seven Seventeen Credit Union, 7371 California Ave., at 4:55 p.m. Wednesday.
Howard initially identified herself as Brittany Danyal Smith at the bank and also attempted to use the alias Stacy Jones with police. She had an Ohio state-issued ID card Wednesday in Smith’s name.
Howard opened an account with the Austintown branch of Seven Seventeen about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday with a check from Hampton Woods Nursing Center, which was fraudulent. She then went to the Seven Seventeen branch in Boardman 30 minutes later to attempt to cash another fraudulent check for $1,569.53. She was told she couldn’t cash it and a hold would be on her account, so she took the check and left.
She left her cellphone behind and returned at 4:55 p.m. to retrieve it when branch officials called police.
Howard said her ride had left her at the scene. She continued to use the alias Smith, signing several booking papers with that name. After contacting Detroit police, they discovered the actual Brittany Danyal Smith had filed a police report for theft of her ID and wallet May 23.
At that point, police said Howard finally admitted who she was and that she had a parole-violation warrant out of Michigan. During booking, she also was found to be in possession of the suspected marijuana.