Former Washington Woman Sentenced for Role in Forged Stimulus Check Conspiracy

Acting United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Courtney Laparele Clark, age 35, formerly of Tacoma, Washington, was sentenced today by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard to a sentence of time served for Conspiracy to Pass and Utter Forged United States Treasury Checks and two counts of Passing and Uttering Forged United States Treasury Checks.  Clark has served more than 13 months’ incarceration at the time of her sentencing. There is no parole in the federal system. Clark will now begin a 3-year term of Supervised Release.  Clark was also ordered to pay $1,400 in restitution and $300 in special assessments.

On March 26, 2021, Jessica Lovering went to the EZ Money Check Cashing location at 5102 L St. in Omaha, Nebraska and presented a forged United States Treasury stimulus check in the amount of $1,400 and was able to cash the check. A white powdery substance was used to obscure the original payee name and “Jessica Lovering” had been placed on the check as the payee. This United States Treasury Check was originally made payable to an individual who is an inmate in the United States Bureau of Prisons.

On April 26, 2021, Jessica Lovering went to the EZ Money Check Cashing location at 5102 L St. in Omaha and presented a forged United States Treasury stimulus check in the amount of $1,400. The check had originally been made payable to an inmate of the Nebraska Department of Corrections. A white powdery substance was again used to obscure the original payee name and “Jessica Lovering” had been placed on the check as the payee. The EZ Money employees recognized the check as being altered and denied payment.

Lovering received these checks from Clark. Text message and Facebook messenger conversations between Clark and Lovering were obtained via search warrants. In these conversations, Clark and Lovering discuss the manufacturing and alteration of checks. Clark and Lovering discuss Lovering cashing a check at the EZ Money near 50^th and L Streets. Clark and Lovering discussed Clark getting checks back from Lovering and their splitting of the proceeds. 

Lovering pleaded guilty Conspiracy to Pass and Utter Forged United States Treasury Checks and two counts of Passing and Uttering Forged United States Treasury Checks and was sentenced to time served on June 16, 2022 to be followed by a 3-year term of Supervised Release. Lovering had served three months and 11 days incarceration at the time of her sentencing.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Omaha Police Department.