Woman agrees to plea deal in forgery case

A Libby woman last month entered into a plea agreement in which she will plead no contest to forgery.

Lacey Lynn Robinson, 24, on Dec. 28 signed a plea agreement in which she would plead nolo contendere to forgery in a common scheme. In return, the Lincoln County Attorney’s office will dismiss the theft charge against her. In the plea agreement, the county recommends Robinson receive a three-year deferred sentence and pay $500 in fines. If she completes the terms of probation without violation, her no contest plea can be withdrawn and the case be dismissed.

Lincoln County Attorney Bernard Cassidy on Dec. 13, 2016 charged Robinson with forgery and theft, which occurred during May 2015, according to court documents.

Lincoln County Detective Brad Dodson in June, 2015 reported that a Troy woman’s bank account had been overdrawn with checks written to businesses in Twin Falls, Idaho. Robinson, the woman’s granddaughter, lived in Twin Falls at the time, but had recently visited the woman in Troy, according to court documents.

An investigation showed that the woman’s signature had been forged on a number of her checks. Two checks had been written to Robinson, court documents state, one of which was cashed at the woman’s bank in Libby on May 3, 2015.

Dodson reported the woman decided to bring the issue to law enforcement officials in June 2015. After speaking with Dodson, the woman reported her checks stolen and forged for fraudulent purchases. She reported eight fraudulent checks written for a total $2,294.40 throughout the month in both Libby and Twin Falls.

Dodson reached out to Twin Falls law enforcement and eventually obtained a business’s surveillance video of a female matching Robinson’s description cashing a check, according to court documents. Dodson reported Robinson’s mother identified Robinson on the surveillance footage.

Dodson in August 2015 met with the woman, Robinson’s grandmother, at Cabinet Peaks Medical Center to record a statement about the theft and forgery. She died later that month.

Five days later, Robinson was allegedly involved in a stolen vehicle incident in which a man was arrested. After the incident, Dodson spoke with Robinson and she confessed to stealing and forging checks, according to court documents.

“… I asked Lacey about stealing money from her grandmother,” Dodson wrote in his report. “Lacey started crying and nodding her head yes. I asked her if she did it and she said ‘allegedly.’”