Sarah Elizabeth Elder

KOSCIUSKO — A Pierceton woman was arrested after writing fraudulent checks, using another female’s banking account.

Sarah Elizabeth Elder, 39, 1363 South CR 450E, Pierceton, is being charged with fraud on a financial institution, a level 5 felony; two counts of forgery, level 6 felonies; identity deception, a level 6 felony; and theft, a level 6 felony.

On June 11, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department spoke with a female subject. The female said she wrote checks to businesses on May 11 and mailed them.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the female discovered an unknown subject had written checks on her account without her permission. The subject made fraudulent checks using the female’s checking account numbers.

Three checks, written for the amounts of $575.94, $592.65 and $565.25, were cashed at Warsaw Deli Mart. A fourth check, written for the amount of $592.65, was cashed at First Farmers Bank and Trust in Wabash. All four checks were written on May 11.

Horizon Bank reimbursed the female’s account and had a loss in the amount of $2,326.49.

Officers went to Warsaw Deli Mart and obtained surveillance video of the check transactions and copies of the identifying information the subject used. The identifying information was an Indiana driver’s license belonging to a second female subject. The female who wrote the checks, later identified as Elder, was using the second female’s personal information.

Elder was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on July 20, with a $5,750 surety and cash bond.