Two Men Named in $134,000 Conspiracy

A Buffalo man and St. Robert man are two of eight indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for a counterfeit check, mail theft, and identity theft conspiracy. 25-year old Christopher Quale of St. Robert and 50-year old Lawrence Eidson of Buffalo are named in the 59 count indictement out of the Western District Court of Missouri. The conspiracy apparently included stealing mail from businesses in Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in order to create counterfeit business checks and then using stolen identities to cash the checks. Eidson and Quale were apparently recruited by ring leaders to take counterfeit checks to banks and institutions to try and cash them. Over $61,000 in checks were passed, over $73,000 in fake checks were rejected.