An insurance agent has pleaded innocent to charges she defrauded a friend by forging the woman's policy payment so she could pocket $6,900 and pay off her own husband's car.
Then, Kelly Anne Winebarger allegedly used her friend's checking account number and routing number to make a $2,200 payment so the woman's insurance premium wouldn't lapse.
Winebarger, 40, of Pasco, faces a Nov. 2 trial in Benton County Superior Court for first-degree theft. The charge includes the aggravating allegation that the crime violated a position of trust.
Winebarger was an insurance agent for Steve Shoemaker Insurance when she met with the victim -- a friend -- in April and told the woman she needed a check for $6,500 to pay the woman's insurance premium, court documents state. The victim wrote a check for that amount to the insurance company.
Weeks later the woman reportedly got a letter from the company thanking her for a $2,216.70 payment. That's when she realized that her check had been altered to read $6,900, with payment to Winebarger, and that someone had paid the insurance company using her checking account information, documents said.
Kennewick police and prosecutors allege that Winebarger deposited the payment into her own account, then withdrew it to cover her husband's car.
In an interview with police, Winebarger said she called her own employer and made the smaller payment using her friend's bank information, court documents said. The victim had no knowledge of this and reportedly didn't give Winebarger permission.
Steve Shoemaker confirmed for police that the only way the company would have accepted that type of payment is if Winebarger had called the company and pretended to be the victim.
Winebarger allegedly had no intention of paying the woman back.
3 charged in trying to return stolen goods
Three Yakima residents allegedly involved in a large-scale ring trafficking stolen goods are charged with trying to return merchandise at Tri-City stores without the receipts.
Michael James Cunningham and Jessica Patricia Crews, both 26, each pleaded innocent to one count of first-degree trafficking stolen property.
Their trials are set to start Oct. 12.
Billie Joe Cunningham, 28, didn't appear in court as scheduled Thursday on a similar charge. Her case was continued one week.
Kennewick officers were called to the Fred Meyer store Aug. 8 for reports of suspicious circumstances involving a man walking around the store wearing a wig, then leaving and talking to the occupants of a pickup.
A short time later, one of the truck's occupants went into the store and attempted to return a KitchenAid appliance but was refused because she didn't have a receipt, court documents said.
Officers then made contact with Crews and the two Cunninghams inside the truck.
Documents said the three had driven from Yakima to return merchandise that they had stolen at various stores in Yakima. Billie Cunningham allegedly had a printer copier in the truck to make fake receipts.
Beer theft charge gone
Charges against a Kennewick teen accused of stealing an 18-pack during an after-hours beer run have been dropped because prosecutors felt they didn't have enough evidence to prove he was the robbery suspect.
David Michael Nader learned Thursday that his second-degree robbery case was dismissed with prejudice, meaning prosecutors can re-file within the statute of limitations if they discover more evidence.
Nader, 18, was arrested May 30 at what was described as a "juvenile beer party."
Prosecutors had charged him with going into a Tesoro 2 Go store earlier that morning and grabbing a case from a display, even though the clerk had told him that beer sales were closed for the night. Court documents said Nader had "shouldered his way past" the clerk to get out of the store with the Budweiser case.
Deputy Prosecutor Terry Bloor, in the order of dismissal, said that Kennewick police had identified Nader based on their observation of the store security video.
The video "shows the S-shaped tattoo on (Nader's) shaved head," the document said. "While in one frame, the S can be faintly seen, it is not clear. We could not convict the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt."
Mabton man detained in Paterson pot grow
A Mabton man is behind bars on $50,000 bail for his alleged involvement in a large marijuana grow operation near Paterson.
Maximiliano Paniagua Valencia, 48, pleaded innocent to two counts of possession with intent to manufacture or deliver marijuana and the aggravating allegation that the drugs were for use by others.
His trial is set for Oct. 12, the same date scheduled for three co-defendants.
Valencia served as the lookout while two others went into the grow near Highway 14 and harvested about 40 pounds of marijuana, court documents said. The men were driving away when investigators, who had been watching the operation, stopped their car.
Prosecutors allege that Valencia and the others tended to 3,373 plants and packaged the mature leaves in a Prosser home.