Why did my friend get arrested for trying to deposit a check from a prospective roommate sent as downpayment?

Question

This prospective roommate (from Spain) who had contacted her through email written out a check to her as down payment on a room for rent and sent it via UPS. The intention was to send dowpayment so that when that person comes over to the US, they could claim the room for rent.

The bank teller called the cops and the cops arrested my friend on the spot claiming that the check was bad and that she was going to be detained.

What worse, the cops left her younger sister (who is over 18 and didn't have a license who did inform the cops of that fact) and two other kids that were with her stranded. When her sister asked the cop where she was going to be detained, they refused to let her know and didn't give their names(don't know if my friend or sister had asked for their names).

By the way, my friend and her sister are both black south africans who have permanent green card status.

Anyways, I heard from my friend later that when asked if her rights were going to be read, the cop told her that she didn't have rights and that "this wasn't the movies." I stayed up all night with her sister waiting for the "phone call" that they supposedly give detainees but my friend told me later that they refused to give her a call.

Also, later my friend told me that they had let her go that same night, only to turn around and detain her til morning. Anyways, she was let go that next day and told that her court day was later this year saying that she could face a possible felony charge.

My friend lost a days wages of work and had to pay $35 to get home by cab.

My friend is innocent and that only thing she tried to do was deposit a check given to her from a prospective roommate who said that she was interested in sharing rent costs.

Are the cops allowed to do such things? What should we do when she is due in court? Thanks!

Answer 1

Too many holes in this story.

Answer 2

Sounds like your "friend" fell for a very popular scam. If the check was stolen then yes, the police can detain her. She's in possession of stolen property and possibly attempted fraud.

To answer your other questions, they can hold you without charging you with any crime for a period (usually between 24 and 72 hours). And they only have to read you your rights if they plan on interrogating you. So can they do that, yup. Tell your friend not to advertise on Craig's list and if she's going to, to be smarter about accepting stolen checks. It isn't as if this is a new scam or anything.  

Answer 3

the best thing she should do is to get a good lawyer.  A lawyer will be able to talk to the prosecutor and find out the whole story.  If your friend doesn't have a lawyer then she is just wasting time...../

Answer 4

I don't think we have all the facts in this case.  Bank tellers don't arrest people.  If your friend was making a deposit, it is conceivable that the check would bounce, but the teller would have no way of knowing that at the time of deposit.  What was really happening that lead up to the arrest (or, more likely, just the questioning) of your friend?  Was this person from Spain on a terrorist watch list?  Check bouncing is not a felony, and depositing a check that bounces is not a crime at all for the person doing the deposing.  You did not say what, if anything, your friend was charged with.  If she has a court date, that means there are charges.  So, what are they?

Answer 5

like always your probably not getting the whole story.they always seem to leave out the part that make them look bad and over embellish the part when they get arrested, it happens all the time, just tell her to get big al and jesse down there ,and they will threaten to riot, like they always do ,if they don't get what they want happens all the time.just get the big hate groups involved like naacp and aclu

Answer 6

Since the republicans passed the so called "Patriot Act," law enforcement can do almost anything they want to someone who is not a citizen. There is very little that can be done about this.

Answer 7

Since you don't know the person who  sent the cheque its really hard to say what happened. It may be that the cheque was bad in which case the only recourse would be to apprehend your friend since she was the one attempting to claim the money from it. As for reading her rights; the cop was right on that point. They do not have to do the whole "right to remain silent" bit. They do that on tv shows for effect - but its not necessary.

As for her phonecall I'm really not sure the rules on that one. She would have the right to call a lawyer but they don't need to let her call her friends or sisters, nor do they need give her sisters a lift home from the bank. It sucks but its not their problem.  

I would say the cops in this case acted like jerks (from your point of view anyway since we don't have theirs.) But I honestly don't think they did anything illegal. Especially if she is out of jail now.