A woman from Joplin, Mo., has been charged with forgery in connection with the recently completed International Route 66 Festival in Joplin, according to a recent report in the Joplin Globe.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Amy Lynn Jones, 42, of Joplin, owner of the Dream Makers promotional company.
The most relevant part of the story:
According to the charges, Jones had an agreement with the city of Joplin to be the city’s vendor manager during the International Route 66 Festival. Two checks written to the city by Pulsaki County, home of an active Route 66 promotional group, were allegedly forged to make the checks payable to Jones instead of the city.
“We allege she took the checks and made them payable to herself instead of the city of Joplin account,” said Dankelson.
A spokesman for the city said 41 vendors participated in the festival. A promotional group, such as Pulaski County, would have paid a vendor’s fee of $300.
Very few other details have been released about this. The Globe story was dated Sept. 23, and Jones apparently is still at large.
A comment thread to the story on the Joplin Globe’s Facebook page indicates that problems with Jones have been ongoing.
A look through criminal cases in Jasper County reveals an Amy Lynn Jones, who lives at the same address as the Jones who was charged with forgery, was charged with passing a bad check in August.
Dream Makers LLC, which is listed as having the same address as Jones’ home, has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau because of billing or collection issues.
I’d heard rumblings from Route 66 vendors about their having problems getting information about the festival before it started. Whether this is related, I don’t know.
UPDATE: I emailed the Pulaski County Tourism Bureau and Visitors Center and asked it about the case. Beth Wiles, its executive director, replied with some details:
All vendor paperwork had instructions to send paperwork and payments to the event coordinator (booth/elect etc.). When one of the checks was deposited, the payee was scratched out and the event planner name was written in. The bank accepted it and it started through the system. Since the check was altered it was run back through the system to the depositing bank.
Apparently this happened to several people.
(Hat tip: Ron Hart)
Can’t imagine why any bank would accept a check with the payee’s name crossed out.