Columbia Woman Arrested for Cashing $32,000 Fraudulent Check

A Columbia woman is facing charges of forgery and defrauding a federally chartered or insured financial institution after she allegedly cashed a fraudulent check at a bank near Irmo.

Joannie L. Colon, 34, turned herself in to authorities Tuesday morning and is being held at the Lexington County Detention Center while awaiting a bond hearing, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.

Detectives said that on Oct. 26 Colon cashed a fraudulent check in the amount of $32,540.12 at a Bank of America on Regency Drive using a New Jersey identification card issued in her name.

According to an arrest warrant, the check was written on the bank account of The Damani Foundation, Inc. in Norcross, Ga.

Officials with the foundation later told Bank of America that checks on the foundation’s bank account had been forged, the sheriff’s department said.

Colon allegedly opened an account with Bank of America two days before she cashed the fraudulent check at the Regency Drive branch office, detectives said.