A Haines City woman has been arrested on grand theft and forgery charges after police said she presented fraudulent United States Postal Services (USPS) money orders at a local bank.
Police said on Aug. 15th, at approximately 12:30 p.m., 31-year-old Janelly Almeida opened an account with CenterState Bank at their branch located at 7722 Lucerne Park Rd. in Winter Haven. Police said Almeida presented two USPS money orders totaling $1,870.
On Aug. 21, bank officials were notified by their internal fraud division that the money orders were fraudulent.
Police were notified and immediately contacted the USPS Postmaster who was shown the original money orders. The Postmaster confirmed that the money orders were fraudulent.
From the time the account was opened until the time the fraudulent money orders were discovered, police said Almeida made two separate withdrawals, one on Aug. 18th and the other on Aug. 19th ultimately emptying the account.
Police said video obtained through the bank identified the account holder as Almeida as well as identifying her as the person withdrawing the money from the account.
On Sept. 9th, detectives located Almeida at her Haines City home where she was taken into custody.
Almeida was booked into the Polk County Jail and charged with two counts of uttering forged document (F3) and grand theft (F3). She remains in jail this morning on $7,000 bond.