Woman arrested on warrants for alleged forgeries
A Conway woman was arrested on multiple warrants Monday stemming from allegations she cashed several forged payroll checks at businesses in Hot Springs, outside Hot Springs Village and in Royal in 2020.
Lakendra Jana Mitchell, 23, who lists a Conway address, was taken into custody shortly after 11:30 a.m. and charged with three counts of second-degree forgery, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Mitchell, who lists no prior criminal history, was initially held on a $10,000 bond, but appeared Wednesday in Garland County District Court where she pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Her bond was amended to $3,000 and a felony review hearing is scheduled for April 7. She re- mained in custody as of Thursday and a court order was issued barring her from future contact with all the businesses involved.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Jan. 22, 2020, an employee of Harps Food Store, 5536 Central Ave., filed a report regarding three forgeries at that location over a three-day period involving three different Black females, including one cashed on Jan. 8 made payable to Mitchell for $527.78.
On Jan. 24, 2o20, a representative of the Top of the Mountain Shell, 4401 Highway 7 north, outside Hot Springs Village, reported two forgeries that had occurred there on Jan. 8 and 9 involving a Black female cashing a check for $519.36.
On Jan. 27, 2020, an employee of the Royal Shell, 5704 Albert Pike Road, in Royal, reported a Black female had entered the business on Jan. 9 and cashed a check for $519.36.
In each of the cases, the checks “appeared to be a legitimate payroll check,” the affidavit notes, but all the checks were later returned to the businesses as being fictitious. In each case, the store managers provided video surveillance photos of the transactions that “clearly showed the individual” involved and all the checks were allegedly written to Mitchell.
Garland County sheriff’s Investigator Jimmy Nobles obtained a printout of the driver’s license information for Mitchell, including her photo, which he was allegedly able to compare to the video surveillance photos from each business and confirm it to be Mitchell in each case.
Warrants were issued for Mitchell on each of the three forgery counts on June 1, 2020.