Apple Valley Couple Charged With Forging Checks to Steal Thousands

An Apple Valley girlfriend and boyfriend both are charged in a case where police say they the girlfriend stole checks, and together they forged more than $15,000 in bank deposits to an account in the girlfriend's name.

Damiyah Adrienne McCoy, 21, is charged with theft by swindle and offering a forged check, both felonies. Her boyfriend, Rafael Dwayne White, 27, is charged with felony offering a forged check.

According to the complaint, a woman contacted police in December 2010 and said a box of checks she ordered in July had never arrived, and that three checks totaling $5,650 had been deposited in December to McCoy's bank account from her checks, at locations in Apple Valley and Burnsville.

Surveillance video from Dec. 10, 2010 and Dec. 12, 2010 allegedly show McCoy and White making deposits of $4,450 at a Burnsville ATM, the complaint says.

Police also found that another $3,250 check from the woman's account was deposited to McCoy in Minneapolis, the complaint says; a $2,000 check allegedly was written to "cash" to McCoy's account shortly thereafter, and the account was frozen.

In January, Lakeville police responded to a fraud report at another bank, where an employee said two $3,200 checks drawn on the woman's account were deposited into two new bank accounts in McCoy's name, according to the complaint.

Surveillance video at an Apple Valley ATM allegedly shows White made the two deposits, the complaint says.

The bank employee told police that three withdrawals from the account, totaling $5,300, were made a few days after the deposits.

The maximum penalty for McCoy's charges is 20 years in prison and a $40,000 fine. The maximum penalty for White's charge is 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.