Elk River Police Officers Tyler Corrier and Jon Christie responded to The Bank of Elk River, located in Elk River, Sherburne County. Assistant Branch Manager JK reported a male, later identified as ELI BECKWITH ZIOLS, [DOB redacted], the defendant herein, had entered the bank and presented a check issued by Kelly’s Flooring LLC, in the amount of $1,765.66 that he requested to cash. JK reported the teller was suspicious of the check due to its appearance as well as the phone number listed, and brought it to her attention.
JK had called Kelly’s Flooring LLC and confirmed they had not issued the check and it was not from their company. JK reported the defendant had been dropped off by a smaller black sports car, which left approximately five minutes after the defendant had entered the bank. JK reported that minutes prior to this transaction, she received an email from another branch that a male had just attempted to cash a check in the amount of $1,700.00 from Kelly’s Flooring LLC, Check No. 13189. When he was told by staff at that branch that they needed to verify the check, the male asked them to skip the verification process because he was in a hurry.
Staff refused and the male said he would take the check elsewhere. Officer Tyler Corrier inspected the check and observed the defendant’s name on it with his correct address and the check appeared to be signed or endorsed by the defendant. The defendant was placed under arrest for felony check forgery. In a post-Miranda statement, the defendant said he had done odd jobs for the flooring company. Then he said two people from the homeless shelter asked him to cash checks for illegal immigrants. He said he was picked up today by a male and female and brought to three to four banks to cash checks and had already cashed checks for $1,800 and $2,000 but did not know where.
He said they told him he should leave if the banks attempt to verify the checks and he gave them the cash from the checks. The defendant stated he was asked to do this about a year ago but declined because he did not want to get in trouble. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: Pursuant to Minn. Stat. 609.49, intentional failure to appear for duly scheduled court appearances may result in additional criminal charges, and in addition to any arrest warrant that may otherwise be issued by the Court.
