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Police say suspect tried four times to use forged checks at Waldorf store
Jump to full article: The Washington Post, 2009-12-01
Author: Matt Zapotosky Washington Post Staff Writer
Intro: A Fairmount Heights man was charged Friday with attempted theft and several counts of forgery after he tried to use a counterfeit check to buy more than $8,000 worth of Newport cigarettes from a Waldorf Sam's Club, police said.
Sounds stupid, except that Nathaniel A. Stewart, 44, had tried the same scheme three times before and not been arrested, police said. Once, he successfully purchased more than $8,000 in smokes, they said.
"He was determined to get away with it," said Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Charles County Sheriff's Office.
The scheme began Nov. 15, when Stewart walked into the Sam's Club on Crain Highway and tried to purchase Newport cigarettes with a $3,098.27 check, according to police charging documents. Store employees turned him away, police said.
. . .
Federal law says it is illegal to possess more than 10,000 cigarettes "which bear no evidence of the payment of applicable State or local cigarette taxes." It is not clear whether Sam's Club broke any laws in selling such a large quantity to Stewart.
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