Officers from the Bremen Police Department put a stop to a rash of fraudulent activity at Interra Credit Union banks across Northern Indiana.
Bremen Police Chief Brad Kile informed the Bremen Town Council members Monday afternoon of the officers’ effort. He said an unarmed South Bend man reportedly entered the facility on Plymouth Street just after they opened for the day on Saturday, March 9. Kile said the suspect wore a ski mask just past the lobby area and then took it off.
“He and a couple boys from the east part of La Porte County were making their runs at Interra banks of Syracuse, New Paris, Nappanee, Wakarusa, and it ended here,” explained Kile. “They were washing checks, taking off the name and the amount, and filling in what they saw fit that they needed for their week’s pay. They were getting about $3,500 a check and they probably wrote about a half dozen of them or more.”
According to booking information from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, 25-year-old Shaquile Re Shan Ellis was booked into the Marshall County Jail on preliminary charges of theft, forgery, fraud, identity deception, and check deception. He is being held in the jail on $20,000 cash bond.
Chief Kile added that his officers have been busy with other crimes in the past week.
“Just in the last week we had five OWI arrests and all five of them were controlled substances, which means it’s not alcohol. Two heroin, two meth, and one marijuana. One top of that, we had seven drug arrests in that same time frame and two were high felony arrests. We’re working pretty close with the DTF (Drug Task Force) and getting it done.”
