Tri-Cities check scam suspect foiled by dead-end street. So she rammed the police
A robbery suspect trying to escaped police slammed her SUV into a U.S. Marshals task force member Wednesday.
Pasco police have been looking Yolanda Monzon for about a month in connection to a check cashing scheme that turned violent in February.
The U.S. Marshals violent offender task force, which is made up of local police officers, tracked Monzon to Kennewick.
It’s unclear where they spotted her, but witnesses said they chased her Ford Explorer east on 27th Avenue near Yoke’s grocery store Wednesday evening.
Monzon took a left onto Lyle Street, apparently not realizing it was a dead end.
Lt. Aaron Clem said Monzon turned around but ended up slamming into a police truck.
No one was seriously hurt but a tree and a retaining wall were damaged, Clem said.
Along with being arrested for her Franklin County warrant, she was booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion of second-degree assault for crashing into the officer’s truck.
Robbery charges
Monzon is accused of hiring a man to cash stolen checks for her. After cashing six checks over the course of a couple days, he met her and two men in a Pasco credit union parking lot Feb. 24.
He was handed a check for $3,500 and told to deposit it at the ATM and take $500 out for her. When he tried to take the money out, the machine wouldn’t give out the cash.
After he failed to get the money, Jose Monzon, 22, and Jesus Martinez III, 33, allegedly punched him in the face and took his phone and wallet. They then left with Yolanda Monzon and headed toward Kennewick
Kennewick detectives found Yolanda Monzon the next day and she was arrested for driving with a suspended license. During a search, they found the man’s debit card in her wallet.
When they searched her car, they discovered a stolen check that matched the one the victim had deposited. They also discovered a second check with a fake business name on it.
Yolanda Monzon is facing charges for first-degree robbery, fraud and forgery.
Jose Monzon and Martinez are both charged with first-degree robbery.