{"id":36784,"date":"2026-07-09T07:16:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T12:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=36784"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T19:14:03","slug":"hawley-woman-charged-in-268-check-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/hawley-woman-charged-in-268-check-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawley Woman Charged in $268 Check Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hawley Woman Charged in $268 Check Case<\/h2>\n

HAWLEY, Minn.<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Hawley woman faces two charges involving a college refund check.<\/p>\n

Kellee Elizabeth Baker is charged with check forgery and theft in Clay County District Court.<\/p>\n

The case is listed under court file number 14-CR-26-1954.<\/p>\n

The charges are allegations. Baker is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

College Requested Repayment<\/h2>\n

The case began after a college contacted the alleged victim on March 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the school requested repayment of $268.47.<\/p>\n

The alleged victim then learned the college had mailed a refund check during fall 2025.<\/p>\n

The check went to a former Hawley address. It was payable only to the alleged victim.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the check was deposited through mobile banking on September 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

The alleged victim said they did not know the check had been mailed.<\/p>\n

Signatures and Bank Records Reviewed<\/h2>\n

Investigators compared the endorsement with a signature sample from the alleged victim.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the signatures did not match.<\/p>\n

Investigators also reviewed Baker\u2019s signature on her Minnesota driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Baker\u2019s signature appeared similar to the check endorsement.<\/p>\n

Investigators obtained bank records through a search warrant, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Those records showed a $268.47 mobile deposit into a shared account.<\/p>\n

The account was held by Baker and the alleged victim.<\/p>\n

The alleged victim reportedly stopped using the account after reaching adulthood.<\/p>\n

Later Payment Sent to College<\/h2>\n

The college contacted the alleged victim again on March 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

School officials said they received a check from Baker on March 18.<\/p>\n

Baker allegedly asked the school to apply that payment toward the alleged victim\u2019s student balance.<\/p>\n

The alleged victim said they did not know why Baker sent the payment.<\/p>\n

They also reported having no contact with Baker for several months.<\/p>\n

Charges Filed in Clay County<\/h2>\n

The complaint lists one count of falsely endorsing a check. It also lists one theft count.<\/p>\n

Readers can review Minnesota\u2019s check forgery law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Minnesota\u2019s theft law<\/a> is also available online.<\/p>\n

Public case information may appear through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole, reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/small><\/p>\n

\"Hawley
Hawley Woman Charged in $268 Check Case<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hawley woman faces check forgery and theft charges after an alleged $268.47 mobile deposit involving a college reimbursement check.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36787,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_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":[20716,871,770,4144,772,8082,620],"class_list":["post-36784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-20716","tag-case","tag-charged","tag-check","tag-crime","tag-hawley","tag-woman","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36784","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=36784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36788,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36784\/revisions\/36788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}