Hearing scheduled in check fraud case

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is pending for a Bayview man accused of using the Bonner County Jail’s banking information to create counterfeit checks that were passed at a Ponderay business.

Dylan Charles Longstreet is charged with attempted grand theft, a felony. He is being held at the jail in lieu of $50,000 while awaiting a hearing to determine if he should stand trial.

Longstreet, 37, passed two of the fictitious checks at The Home Depot in October 2013, according to the criminal complaint. One check was for $727 and the other was for $730, Ponderay Police reports indicate.

Another check for $519 was passed at a Nordstrom department store at an undisclosed location.

The checks bore the names of allegedly fictitious businesses, in addition to Longstreet’s name. However, the checks utilized the detention center’s account information.

Court records indicate that Longstreet was released from the jail the month before the bogus checks were passed. At the time of his release, he was issued a $5.90 check by the county, which was the balance of his inmate account at the facility. Investigators believe used that check to fashion the counterfeit checks.

At the time, Longstreet was being held at the jail for allegedly violating the terms of his probation in a felony driving under the influence, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

Longstreet is suspected of using a similar scam in Hamilton, Mont., court records show. A man used a check to purchase two welders from Longstreet and a short time later discovered that an unauthorized checks were drawn on his account.