Phony 30th District Court checks being cashed

"These checks are totally bogus," said Detective Terrill Shaw.

He showed us the checks in question.  They sure looked authentic, probably because they appear to be from the 30th District Court in Highland Park.

"We have a slough of checks from 30th District Court that are being cashed outside in different cities."

"Someone is getting a hold [of] these checks that look original and they're able to cash them," said Patrice Young with Crime Stoppers.

"We're getting word that it's really one particular person handing these checks out to other individuals," Shaw explained.

Police say their bad guy sends other people in to cash the fake checks and then gets a cut of the money.

Police say this started two or three weeks ago.  Bad checks have been cashed in Detroit in the Mexicantown area and at a liquor store in Highland Park.

"I got a million bad checks like I've caught," said Vinny Yatooma with Gran Liquor Store.

However, this one looked legit.

"It looked good," he said.  "Usually I call on them, but it came from the court, so I thought it would be good."

It wasn't good as Yatooma found out.  Police are getting a warrant for a woman they suspect in the case, but say they really want the ringleader because there are a whole bunch of bad checks out there making the 30th District Court in Highland Park look like the bad guy.

"It's hurting the pockets of everybody.  The businesses don't deserve it," Young told us.

"We need the stores to contact us immediately," said Shaw.

"We just need someone to call 1-800-SPEAK-UP or the Highland Park Police Department to give these individuals up so this can be stopped," Young said.