CALCASIEU PARISH, La. — A Louisiana sheriff’s office has arrested two Georgians on accusations of bank fraud, forgery and theft starting in December 2024.
According to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office, Anthony Hardy and Lequita Johnson, both of Decatur, were under investigation for various financial crimes after detectives got reports about stolen checks.
During the investigation, Calcasieu deputies learned victims were putting checks in their mailboxes to pay for various bills, but the checks were stolen.
Then, “the payee of the check along with the payment amount were altered and later cashed.”
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As the investigation continued, the sheriff’s office said they found that Hardy and Johnson were also exploiting homeless residents in the area by using them to cash checks at different banks in the Lake Charles and Sulphur areas in Louisiana.
A joint investigation into the financial crimes ensued, with CPSO working together with the Lake Charles and Sulphur police departments.
That’s when officers say they found out Hardy was giving altered checks to people to cash. The sheriff’s office said they also found a white Toyota Camry had been seen on surveillance footage stealing checks out of mailboxes.
Investigators later learned the Camry was rented by Johnson out of Georgia.
On Jan. 7, the Lake Charles Police Department made contact with both Hardy and Johnson in the Camry. Detectives from the sheriff’s office spoke to both of them as well and they were arrested and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center, according to officials.
Both Hardy and Johnson were charged with forgery, bank fraud and theft and were given $105,000 bonds, the sheriff’s office said.
The joint investigation has “over 20 related cases,” and officers said more arrests and charges are expected.
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