An arrest warrant for a 35-yearold Elk City man was issued in the Beckham County District Court on April 5.
The investigation began on August 19, 2022, when an Elk City Police Department officer was dispatched to North Washington for a report of alleged check fraud.
Upon arrival at the scene, the officer met with the alleged victim and her son.
The alleged victim, an 84-yearold woman, reported that she has her yard mowed by a man for whom she pays $75 per mowing.
The woman explained that she had called this man, and that man stated that he was unavailable but that he would send an employee to do it.
The woman stated that after the employee mowed her lawn, she gave him a check for $75.
The man was reportedly identifi ed as Robert Luna. The alleged victim allegedly made the check to Robert Luna.
A few days later, Luna returned to the woman’s house, allegedly claiming that the original $75 check had been destroyed. She reportedly signed a blank check and gave it to him.
The woman then reportedly showed the officer where Luna had reportedly cashed an $875 check against her account.
The original $75 check was never cashed.
The alleged victim also showed the officer her checkbook, which had duplicate copies of each check she wrote.
“I observed that the original check she wrote to Robert Luna was check number 6276, and it was for $75, based on the faded ink that says Robert Luna and the amount of $75, I determined that this was a true duplicate of the check that (omitted) made out to Robert Lunda for mowing. On the duplicate of the check for number 6277, I can tell from the ink that (omitted) wrote the duplicate check out after tearing a blank check out and handing Robert the check as she told me. This was the check that Robert Luna wrote for $875. On the memo line, (omitted) wrote that it was for ‘mowing.’ However, on the check copy returned from the bank, it shows on the memo line ‘mowing/carpentry.’ I asked (omitted) if Robert did any work besides mowing her lawn, and she stated that he did not,” the officer wrote.
The officer noted that the alleged victim was “suffering some sort of age-related mental decline.”
Luna has a preset bond of $2,000.
