Man charged for alleged counterfeit check ring

PERKINS TWP. — A Sandusky man who allegedly led a multi-county counterfeit payroll ring was arrested by Perkins Police last week and now officers are asking for others involved in the scheme to come forward. On April 28, Rayshon Hunter, 29, of Larchmont Drive, was arrested and charged with four felonies: criminal simulation, forgery, possessing criminal tools and corrupt activity. Police claim Hunter recruited locals into cashing fake business payroll checks at grocery stores in Perkins Township and Sandusky. As many as 40 people are involved in the alleged scheme, Rotuno said. It wasn't immediately clear if anyone else has been charged to date. The check-cashing scheme started about a year ago and checks were cashed as far away as Lorain, Cleveland and Toledo, Perkins police Detective Joe Rotuno said. The fake checks appeared to be real ones, bearing the names of real businesses in the Sandusky and Fremont areas. "Over the last year we started noticing a large amount of fraudulent checks being cashed at a number of businesses in Perkins," Rotuno said. "The checks were mostly linked to good business accounts." Rotuno said that the checks were mostly cashed out at chain grocery stores, with Walmart and Kroger being the biggest targets. When a large-scale grocery store like Kroger is victim of a bad check being cashed, they file a civil suit and send the fraud checks back to the business. Rotuno said this puts the brunt of the loss on the stores. "In a seven-day period, Kroger had a loss of about $20,000 and Walmart had about a $3,000 loss," Rotuno said. When the fraud was reported, Perkins police would initiate an investigation if they were not able to immediately identify and arrest the suspect when they were cashing their check. The suspects caught cashing the bad checks allegedly told police they were given the checks to cash. "In January (one business) got hit with 15 bad checks," Rotuno said. "All the people cashing the checks were using their real name and IDs. At that point, we figured they were probably being recruited to cash the checks to make some quick money." Rotuno said information gathered during the investigation led detectives to identify Hunter as an alleged ringleader in the scheme. "Through our investigation over the past reports, we were able to develop a target at the top of the organization," Rotuno said. Hunter, who is originally from Sandusky, was on parole at the time for similar fraud crimes he committed in Pennsylvania, Rotuno said. He was convicted of felony theft by deception in 2017, according to Pennsylvania court records. Police suspect that he allegedly recruited people via social media to create and cash the phony checks. Rotuno said that Hunter was allegedly present in the parking lot outside stores when the fraudulent checks were being cashed. That's because police were able to track his location through his ankle monitor. Last week, Hunter's hotel room on Cleveland Road (U.S. 6) was searched and police seized his computer. Police said they found the blank check stock that Hunter was allegedly using to make the checks and four fraudulent checks that were ready to be cashed. Rotuno estimated that, as a result of the scheme, local businesses lost at least $100,000, but acknowledged that figure is on the low side and could rise as the department's investigation continues. Perkins police were assisted in their investigation by the Huron County sheriff's office, Erie County sheriff's office and Kroger's retail crime unit. Hunter is currently being held at Erie County Jail on a $35,000 bond. His next court date is a plea hearing which is happening today. Rotuno said most of the checks cashed were just under $1,000. He said recruits might have believed, incorrectly, that an amount less than $1,000 would be a misdemeanor charge, but the detective said it can be charged as a felony. Rotuno encouraged anyone allegedly recruited by Hunter to cash fraudulent checks to come forward. People can contact him or Perkins Detective Tim Alexander at 419-627-0824, extension 5.