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One of two wanted forgery suspects turns himself in

One of two wanted forgery suspects turns himself in
One of two wanted forgery suspects turns himself in
Posted at 7:45 PM, Apr 14, 2016
and last updated 2018-07-24 21:30:06-04

At least one suspect wanted by the Woodway Public Safety Department in a case involving IRS income tax return check forgeries back last month turned himself at the McLennan County Jail early Friday morning.

24-year-old Jheromy Deshun Johnson, of Bellmead, faces a forgery charge, which is state jail felony, punishable by up to two years behind bars.

According to Woodway Public Safety, the 10 forged checks, showing the same routing numbers, account numbers, check stock and bank names, totaled nearly $67,000

"In appearance they looked real, but once they tried to clear the bank, they were determined to be fraudulent,” said Woodway Public Safety Department Captain Larry Adams.

According to an arrest affidavit, Johnson was seen in an H-E-B surveillance video next to suspect Ebony Stephens while she passed the check on March 3.

“Mr. Johnson appeared nervous during this transaction. The video showed at one point Mr. Johnson rubbing his head looking around,” stated the affidavit. “At one point Mr. Johnson leaned over the counter to view the transaction.”

Adams said authorities believe Johnson was the middle man in the scheme.

“He basically recruited this people who cashed the checks, obtained this information, passed this information onto the person who actually made the checks, and then he obtained some of them money when it was cashed. As well as the person cashing the check,” said Adams.

Woodway PSD posted the surveillance video on its Facebook page. However, several days before he turned himself in, he contacted Woodway PSD and asked a detective to remove the video from the page. 

Juanita Marie Puryear, 27, who also had an outstanding warrant accused of cashing forged checks, had not been arrested and was suspected of being in the Killeen area as of Friday night.

She is suspected to be with Charett Hilton, 27, who has an outstanding warrant out of Bellmead for a similar type of forgery.

When Woodway PSD sent a notice about the two wanted suspects, Johnson and Puryear on Thursday evening, it was mentioned they were not cooperating with the case. 

10 people have been arrested in connection to this case.

“We don't believe each individual suspect was working with one another. We don't believe they even knew each other,” said Adams.

At this time, Woodway PSD is still investigating the person who forged the checks.

More arrests may be possible in connection to this case. 

If you have any information, you can contact Woodway PSD at 254-772-4470 or tips@woodwaymail.org.

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