{"id":26797,"date":"2026-04-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=26797"},"modified":"2026-04-26T07:17:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T12:17:33","slug":"detroit-lakes-forgery-case-callaway-man-sentenced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/detroit-lakes-forgery-case-callaway-man-sentenced\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lakes Forgery Case: Callaway Man Sentenced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit Lakes<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 Ernest Duane Clark Jr., 34, of Callaway, has been sentenced in Becker County District Court for felony check forgery.<\/p>\n

The sentence follows a fraud case tied to the Detroit Lakes Walmart. According to court records, the case was assigned to Detroit Lakes police on Feb. 21, 2025.<\/p>\n

The report said a man used a check belonging to another person. The check was used to buy a new Xbox valued at $472.36.<\/p>\n

Five days later, the Xbox was returned for cash value. Court records said an older used Xbox was placed inside the box before the return.<\/p>\n

Stolen Checks Reported<\/h2>\n

The checks used in the purchase had been reported stolen, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Investigators later identified Clark as the person who passed the fake check. Court records said Clark was confronted during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Clark then turned over the new Xbox purchased from Walmart to authorities.<\/p>\n

The case was filed in Becker County District Court. It ended with a felony check forgery sentence on March 20.<\/p>\n

Sentence Stayed For Five Years<\/h2>\n

Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony sentenced Clark to 17 months in prison at St. Cloud.<\/p>\n

That prison sentence was stayed for five years. Clark was ordered to serve one day in jail.<\/p>\n

He received credit for one day already served.<\/p>\n

Clark was also fined $500. He must pay an additional $160 in court fees.<\/p>\n

The court also ordered Clark to pay $846 in restitution.<\/p>\n

Clark was ordered to abstain from drugs and alcohol. He must complete cognitive skill training.<\/p>\n

He must also follow cognitive behavioral programming as directed.<\/p>\n

Clark was placed on supervised probation for five years.<\/p>\n

Court Records And Local Information<\/h2>\n

More information about Minnesota courts is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Local county information is available through Becker County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The case is another reported retail fraud matter handled in Becker County District Court.<\/p>\n

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

\"Detroit
Detroit Lakes Forgery Case: Callaway Man Sentenced<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit Lakes (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Ernest Duane Clark Jr., 34, of Callaway, has been sentenced in Becker County District Court for felony check forgery. The sentence follows a fraud case tied to the Detroit Lakes Walmart. According to court records, the case was assigned to Detroit Lakes police on Feb. 21, 2025. The report said a… Continue reading Detroit Lakes Forgery Case: Callaway Man Sentenced<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26798,"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":[15304,16796,16794,16795,955,16797],"class_list":["post-26797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-becker-county-court","tag-callaway-man-sentenced","tag-detroit-lakes-forgery-case","tag-ernest-duane-clark-jr","tag-minnesota-crime-news","tag-walmart-fraud-case","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26797","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=26797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26800,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26797\/revisions\/26800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}