Warrants issued for forged check scheme netting over $46,000

Arrest warrants were issued Thursday for a man and woman accused of taking forged checks and cashing them, along with an accomplice, to the tune of over $46,000 from Cool-Temp Awning and Siding Company.

The Comanche County District Court issued felony arrest warrants for Benjamin Patrick Turner, 37, and Lacy Nichole Molder, 32, for charges of embezzlement and conspiracy to commit embezzlement, records indicate.

Lawton Police Detective David Folkert stated he began investigating the allegations on March 21.

The business owner said Molder, a former secretary, was not sending business financials to the accountant and, after he confronted her about it, she left the office key and a note stating she quit, the warrant affidavit states. He then discovered she’d taken multiple company checks and forged them to herself, former employee Turner, and another woman, Beth Ann Schroeder, 48, who is in jail on a felony charge of passing forged checks from a case filed Feb. 14. Turner and Molder had worked for the business since October 2021, Folkert learned.

The forged checks were from December 2022 to March 2023 and totaled $46,165.15, the affidavit states.

Folkert stated Schroeder was seen on images from BancFirst from Jan. 12 from the drive-through at 3801 Cache Road. She was taken into custody on April 19 and made her initial court appearance where she received a felony charge of uttering a forged instrument as well as misdemeanor counts of larceny from a retailer and conspiracy. Records indicate she is being held on $11,500 bond for the two cases.

Turner has prior felony convictions from Bell County, Texas: November 2016, theft of a firearm; and June 2020, evading arrest with a vehicle, records indicate.

Molder has a September 2020 felony conviction in Oklahoma County for shooting with intent to kill and received a five-year suspended sentence.

Turner and Molder each have $25,000 cash warrant bonds issued upon arrest.