Lisbon Business Identified as Victims in National Crime Ring

Checks stolen during an apparent burglary to Merbeth Sheet Metal Products, a Town of Lisbon business, may result in nearly $16,000 in losses for BMO Harris Bank, according to a search warrant recently filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Investigators have identified three suspects in an multi-state forgery ring and are still seeking the identity of the fourth suspect. The check forgery and burglary ring involved thefts in Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Wisconsin and Illinois, according to The Tennessean.

Merbeth Sheet Metal Products’ president informed Waukesha County detectives on May 21 that they discovered 31 blank payroll checks missing from the business, as well as a written payroll check that had a signature on it. The company president also discovered pry marks on the interior door from the shop into the office, as well as pry marks to the exterior doors, according to the affidavit.

The payroll checks were cashed on May 15 at BMO Harris Bank locations in Brookfield, Waukesha, West Allis and Milwaukee.

A fraud investigator with the bank received a lead in the investigation when he learned that three suspects had been taken into custody in Waukegan. The suspects matched suspects in the bank’s security footage, the search warrant affidavit states.

Blank Merbeth Sheet Metal checks and the written paycheck, as well as a document showing a person had practiced writing the letter “L,” were found during a search warrant conducted by the Waukegan Police Department.

The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department plans to examine electronic evidence in its efforts to find a fourth suspect, according to the search warrant.

Arrested so far in the investigation are:

• Nicolas Chavez Garcia, 30, who had an outstanding warrant in Tennessee for burglary and forgery
• Fernando Sanchez-Guizar, 38,
• Joel Gayton-Sandoval, 27, who had an outstanding federal warrant for bank fraud in Wisconsin.