Two Arrested in Eagan for Attempting to Pass Fraudulent Checks Worth Thousands

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Cash a payroll check for a stranger. Get paid $200.

It was a scheme that sounded too good to be true for Ronnie Lavell Mayfield Nash. And, in the end, it was.

On Nov. 6, Eagan police arrested Nash, of Minneapolis, and Shawn Keith Swayzer, of Richfield, for attempting to pass two fraudulent checks worth a combined total of $4,569.21 at a Wells Fargo Bank location in Eagan

Nash, 34, and Swayzer, 50, each face one felony count of possession of stolen or counterfeit checks, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Dakota County Attorney's Office. If convicted, each man could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Officers picked up both men shortly after bank authorities tipped off police that the pair had allegedly attempted to cash counterfeit checks.

Upon arrest, both men allegedly told police that they had been approached separately by third parties, who asked if they wanted to make $200. When Swayzer and Nash agreed, the third parties brought the men to pick up a printer, then allegedly took them to a hotel near the Mall of America.

At the hotel, Nash and Swayzer told police, they gave their IDs to the men, who printed off fraudulent payroll checks in Swayzer and Nash's names. The men then drove both Swayzer and Nash to the Wells Fargo, and instructed them to cash the checks there.

Nash later told police the situation sounded too good to be true, but that he went along with it anyway.