Man Charged for Trying to Cash Phony Check in SLP

A St. Paul man has been charged with trying to cash a counterfeit check earlier this month at a St. Louis Park bank.

Andrew Jerome McDaniel, 31, is charged with possession or sale of counterfeit checks, a felony with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by St. Louis Park Police Officer Jonathan Riegert, McDaniel went into the TCF Bank branch at in St. Louis Park on July 12 and tried to cash a check for $928.36, written on the account of All Nations Home Health Care of Minneapolis.

The check was payable to McDaniel, and included his St. Paul address on the payee line, the complaint says.

Bank employees, who recognized the check as counterfeit because of earlier incidents of people cashing or attempting to cash fraudulent checks from All Nations Home Health Care, called police.

Officers contacted All Nations officials, who verified that McDaniel has never worked there.

McDaniel told police that the check was mailed to him at his home, and that he didn’t know it was counterfeit. He initially claimed to have earned the money working as a health care attendant for his girlfriend’s mother, but admitted later that he never provided any care for her other than buying her groceries, according to the complaint.

McDaniel had no information on where the woman lived or how to contact her or her daughter, police said. He knew nothing about her medical condition except that she wears an oxygen mask.

McDaniel also said his girlfriend told him that she couldn’t work as a care attendant because of her criminal record, but that he could register as her attendant and receive the salary, according to the complaint.

McDaniel is free on a $3,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Sept. 20 in Hennepin County District Court.