A Hager City woman says her husband made her try to cash a fraudulent check in Prescott, landing her in Pierce County Jail last week.

Olivia Suzanne Meerkins, 34, posted a $10,000 signature bond Jan. 3 in Pierce County Circuit Court on felony misappropriate ID info – obtain money, theft – movable property (as party to a crime) and receiving or concealing stolen property (as party to a crime) charges. If convicted, the maximum penalty is six years in prison and/or fines up to $10,000.

According to the complaint:

At about 4:39 p.m. Jan. 2, Prescott police were dispatched to WESTconsin Credit Union (1400 N. Acres Road, Prescott) where a woman was attempting to cash a suspected fraudulent check. When police arrived, the suspect (Meerkins) was leaving the bank. She told the officer she’d gone in to use the bathroom. When asked if she tried to cash a check, she asked what was wrong with the check. She then tried to tell police she was trying to cash the check for her uncle.

A bank employee said Meerkins’ behavior in the bank wasn’t normal. She presented a driver’s license that wasn’t hers when attempting to cash the check. The victim on the ID was actually a WESTconsin Credit Union employee. The employee asked Meerkins where she worked and she indicated she is not employed. When asked who her previous employer was, she couldn’t provide a response.

Meerkins agreed to speak with police and said a few days ago, a woman she knew as “Britt” met her and her husband at the Gas Lite bar in Trimbelle. Britt gave Meerkins’ husband a wallet she said was stolen. Meerkins said she found the check she attempted to cash inside her residence and that her husband suggested she try to cash it using the stolen driver’s license since she “kind of looked like the person on the stolen driver's license.”

Meerkins admitted to entering the bank and knowingly trying to cash the check using a stolen ID. She said it was all her husband’s idea. Officers arrested Meerkins and informed her husband that she was going to Pierce County Jail; he was parked nearby at Snap Fitness.

Meerkins’ husband Calvin Joseph Meerkins, 40, Hager City, is set for an initial appearance in Pierce County Circuit Court on theft – movable property (as party to a crime) and receiving or concealing stolen property (as party to a crime) at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 24.

Olivia Meerkins is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 1:45 p.m. Jan. 23.