South Bend Woman Arrested On Fraud, Drug Charges
June 18, 2018 at 4:40 p.m.
A South Bend woman was arrested Friday for allegedly stealing mail and using people’s personal information to create fraudulent checks to support her drug and gambling addiction.
Junie Cepeda Ibarra, 47, South Bend, was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 4:19 a.m. Friday. Court documents filed today list the charges against her as dealing methamphetamine, a level 2 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a level 3 felony; fraud on a financial institution, a level 5 felony; corrupt business influence, a level 5 felony; forgery, a level 6 felony; fraud, a level 6 felony; and identity deception, a level 6 felony.
On May 29, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputy Joshua J. Spangle began an investigation into a female suspect using fraudulent checks to obtain funds. When he found the suspect, she provided him with information that Ibarra was stealing checks out of mailboxes and manufacturing fraudulent checks and cashing them.
On June 1, KCSD deputy James Smith responded to a theft. Woman No. 1 told him she found that her bank credit card had been used several times without her permission. She said the card was used on June 1 at a Warsaw grocery store for $295.31, at a Syracuse gas station for $45.98 and a New Paris gas station for $50.13 on May 31.
On June 1, an employee of a gas station brought to the KCSD a check written on May 22 for $49.07 signed with woman No. 2’s signature on the woman’s bank account. The check had been returned as fictitious. The person who used the check had presented an Indiana driver’s license for the woman whose name had been used on the check.
Woman No. 2 told Spangle her driver’s license had been stolen from her mailbox and she did not write or sign any check and cash that check at the gas station. The woman’s driver’s license was later found in Ibarra’s wallet.
Then on Friday, KCSD deputy Michael Fowler saw Ibarra driving in the area of Whispering Pines in Kosciusko County. Fowler conducted a traffic stop, and Warsaw Police Department officer Philip Reed used his K9 to do a drug sweep of Ibarra’s vehicle and the dog made a positivie alert on it.
KCSD deputy Shane Bucher and Spangle arrived and spoke with Ibarra. She told Bucher that there was methamphetamine inside her vehicle.
Inside the vehicle, officers found two plastic bags containing methamphetamine that weighed 40 grams. Officers also found a glass smoking device with residue, numerous checks for multiple individuals, digital scales, empty plastic bags, numerous receipts from different stores, $637, gift cards, a computer, money orders, a printer, digital card reader, a check starter kit, five cellphones, two USB hard drives and two Michigan driver’s licenses that did not belong to Ibarra.
Ibarra admitted to officers that she was receiving methamphetamine from California and dealing it, according to court documents. She deals 4 ounces of methamphetamine per week. She admitted to stealing mail from mailboxes to obtain driver’s licenses and check information. She would then manufacture her own fraudulent checks using the victim’s bank information and then cash the checks to obtain funds.
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Court documents state Ibarra admitted stealing mail from woman No. 2, using that woman’s driver’s license and check information to manufacture checks and cash the checks. One of those was cashed at the gas station.
Ibarra said she conspired with a woman and a man to steal checks and manufacture fraudulent checks and cash those checks. She admitted to stealing checks and manufacturing fraudulent checks in Indiana and southern Michigan to support her drug and gambling addiction, according to court documents. She said she had been involved in stealing mail and manufacturing checks to obtain funds since December.
Ibarra said she is from California, her family lives in California and she was planning to go there Friday. She said when she bonded out of jail, she was going to go to California.
Spangle received information that Ibarra and the man and woman she conspired with were involved in between 30 and 50 cases where mail was stolen, fraudulent checks were written and/or cashed and stolen credit cards were used to obtain funds.
Ibarra’s bond was set at $250,000 surety and $500 cash.
A South Bend woman was arrested Friday for allegedly stealing mail and using people’s personal information to create fraudulent checks to support her drug and gambling addiction.
Junie Cepeda Ibarra, 47, South Bend, was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 4:19 a.m. Friday. Court documents filed today list the charges against her as dealing methamphetamine, a level 2 felony; possession of methamphetamine, a level 3 felony; fraud on a financial institution, a level 5 felony; corrupt business influence, a level 5 felony; forgery, a level 6 felony; fraud, a level 6 felony; and identity deception, a level 6 felony.
On May 29, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputy Joshua J. Spangle began an investigation into a female suspect using fraudulent checks to obtain funds. When he found the suspect, she provided him with information that Ibarra was stealing checks out of mailboxes and manufacturing fraudulent checks and cashing them.
On June 1, KCSD deputy James Smith responded to a theft. Woman No. 1 told him she found that her bank credit card had been used several times without her permission. She said the card was used on June 1 at a Warsaw grocery store for $295.31, at a Syracuse gas station for $45.98 and a New Paris gas station for $50.13 on May 31.
On June 1, an employee of a gas station brought to the KCSD a check written on May 22 for $49.07 signed with woman No. 2’s signature on the woman’s bank account. The check had been returned as fictitious. The person who used the check had presented an Indiana driver’s license for the woman whose name had been used on the check.
Woman No. 2 told Spangle her driver’s license had been stolen from her mailbox and she did not write or sign any check and cash that check at the gas station. The woman’s driver’s license was later found in Ibarra’s wallet.
Then on Friday, KCSD deputy Michael Fowler saw Ibarra driving in the area of Whispering Pines in Kosciusko County. Fowler conducted a traffic stop, and Warsaw Police Department officer Philip Reed used his K9 to do a drug sweep of Ibarra’s vehicle and the dog made a positivie alert on it.
KCSD deputy Shane Bucher and Spangle arrived and spoke with Ibarra. She told Bucher that there was methamphetamine inside her vehicle.
Inside the vehicle, officers found two plastic bags containing methamphetamine that weighed 40 grams. Officers also found a glass smoking device with residue, numerous checks for multiple individuals, digital scales, empty plastic bags, numerous receipts from different stores, $637, gift cards, a computer, money orders, a printer, digital card reader, a check starter kit, five cellphones, two USB hard drives and two Michigan driver’s licenses that did not belong to Ibarra.
Ibarra admitted to officers that she was receiving methamphetamine from California and dealing it, according to court documents. She deals 4 ounces of methamphetamine per week. She admitted to stealing mail from mailboxes to obtain driver’s licenses and check information. She would then manufacture her own fraudulent checks using the victim’s bank information and then cash the checks to obtain funds.
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Court documents state Ibarra admitted stealing mail from woman No. 2, using that woman’s driver’s license and check information to manufacture checks and cash the checks. One of those was cashed at the gas station.
Ibarra said she conspired with a woman and a man to steal checks and manufacture fraudulent checks and cash those checks. She admitted to stealing checks and manufacturing fraudulent checks in Indiana and southern Michigan to support her drug and gambling addiction, according to court documents. She said she had been involved in stealing mail and manufacturing checks to obtain funds since December.
Ibarra said she is from California, her family lives in California and she was planning to go there Friday. She said when she bonded out of jail, she was going to go to California.
Spangle received information that Ibarra and the man and woman she conspired with were involved in between 30 and 50 cases where mail was stolen, fraudulent checks were written and/or cashed and stolen credit cards were used to obtain funds.
Ibarra’s bond was set at $250,000 surety and $500 cash.