Forger Caught Holding The Bag: Deputies

DADE CITY, FL — A stolen vehicle is probably not the best transportation to use when hauling two duffel bags full of forging equipment and forged documents. A 33-year-old Dade City man reportedly found that out the hard way on Tuesday.

According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, deputies stopped a vehicle on U.S. 301 near Desrosier Road in Dade City around 1:54 p.m. June 27. When the vehicle was approached, three people inside told the deputy that passenger Mickey Curtis Bearden “was in possession of a large duffel bag,” an arrest report said.

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When the bag was inspected, deputies found an HP Laser Jet Pro, super glue, a check starter kit and other supplies. “Based on my experience as an economic crimes detective, I knew these items to be used for forgery of checks,” the arresting investigator wrote in the report.

Deputies also came across a second bag. Inside that bag, they found “forged checks and multiple government issued IDs,” the report said. Four drivers licenses, a Social Security card, seven credit cards belonging to seven different people and a red folder containing “32 forged checks” were also recovered, the report noted.

Authorities say one of the forgery victims was Paula O’Neil, the county’s clerk. A clerk’s office in Kentucky and a Dade City computer business were also targeted, an email from the sheriff’s office said.

O'Neil's office issued a statement about Bearden's arrest Wednesday afternoon, saying that at no time did his alleged activities pose a threat to the clerk's office or Pasco County taxpayers.

“We might have been a target, but we definitely were not a victim," O'Neil said in the statement. "So far, no checks from this operation have been presented at our partner banks, so, clearly, none were cashed. Of course, we will continue to be vigilant, as we always are, over the possibility of counterfeit checks being presented against our accounts.”

Bearden was charged with 32 counts of forgery, two counts of possession of forgery equipment and one count of possession of personal information, the sheriff’s office said. Booking information for Bearden is not yet available.

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