{"id":23994,"date":"2026-03-31T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=23994"},"modified":"2026-03-29T16:32:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T21:32:01","slug":"bemidji-man-faces-check-forgery-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-man-faces-check-forgery-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Man Faces Check Forgery Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beltrami County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Faribault man is now facing a felony check forgery charge in Beltrami County after a reported incident at Menards in Bemidji.<\/p>\n

According to a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota District Court, Matthew Christopher Dale Kurtenbach, 44<\/strong>, was charged with check forgery<\/strong>. The charge alleges he offered or possessed a forged check with the intent to defraud.<\/p>\n

What The Complaint Says<\/h2>\n

The complaint says the case centers on an August 24, 2025, purchase at the Menards<\/a> store in Bemidji.<\/p>\n

Investigators say a man used a check for $177.83<\/strong> to pay for items. The check was later reported as fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Court records say the check listed Leonard Commercial Services<\/strong> and an address at 1200 East Shore Drive in Detroit Lakes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The complaint says investigators checked that address and found it was a Best Western<\/a> hotel. They did not find a business by that name there.<\/p>\n

The routing number on the check was reportedly tied to Bell Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Authorities say a suspect photo helped identify Kurtenbach. The complaint also says he had an active felony warrant at that time.<\/p>\n

Prior Conviction Cited In Filing<\/h2>\n

The complaint notes that Kurtenbach was convicted of gross misdemeanor check forgery on August 27, 2024.<\/p>\n

That prior conviction is important in this case. Prosecutors allege it happened within the required time period under Minnesota law.<\/p>\n

The new charge is listed as a felony<\/strong>. The maximum penalty shown in the complaint is five years in prison<\/strong>, a $10,000 fine<\/strong>, or both.<\/p>\n

You can review Minnesota court information through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>. Minnesota law on check forgery can also be found in the state statute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Case Status<\/h2>\n

At this stage, the charge is an allegation. It has not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Kurtenbach is accused of using a forged check to buy goods in Bemidji. The complaint says the check amount was less than $250.<\/p>\n

Still, the filing says the case qualifies as a felony because of a prior forgery conviction.<\/p>\n

The case was filed in Beltrami County District Court<\/strong> under court file 04-CR-25-2954<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As with all criminal cases, Kurtenbach is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Bemidji
Bemidji Man Faces Check Forgery Charge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beltrami County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Faribault man is now facing a felony check forgery charge in Beltrami County after a reported incident at Menards in Bemidji. According to a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota District Court, Matthew Christopher Dale Kurtenbach, 44, was charged with check forgery. The charge alleges he offered or possessed a forged… Continue reading Bemidji Man Faces Check Forgery Charge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[10240,1212,1224,848,4144,8172,772,914,960,1194,8252,151,15728,8855,1286],"class_list":["post-23994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-bell-bank","tag-beltrami-county","tag-bemidji","tag-charge","tag-check","tag-check-forgery","tag-crime","tag-detroit-lakes","tag-faces","tag-felony-charge","tag-forgery","tag-man","tag-matthew-christopher-dale-kurtenbach","tag-menards-bemidji","tag-minnesota-court","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24006,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23994\/revisions\/24006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}