Woman jailed for writing multiple fake checks

Chris Vetter, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·2 min read

May 12—CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Lake Hallie woman convicted of writing numerous fake checks at area banks last summer, then withdrew the money, will serve a 20-day jail sentence.

Jennifer R. Lanners, 30, 3487 S. Joles Parkway, pleaded no contest Tuesday in Chippewa County Court to fraud against a financial institution. Charges of wire fraud, forgery, bail jumping and resisting or obstructing an officer were read-in and dismissed.

Judge James Isaacson ordered the jail sentence, and also ordered Lanners to pay $16,051 in restitution and court costs. Lanners also was placed on five years of probation and she must submit a DNA sample. She must pay 20% of the restitution annually by July 1; the first payment is due July 1, 2022. She must report to jail by May 24.

According to the criminal complaint, Lanners deposited checks of $3,800, $6,800, $8,700, $10,900 and $14,700 at five different banks in the Chippewa Valley between May and June 2020, adding up to about $45,000. The checks appeared to be authentic, all coming from fertilizer companies. She later withdrew most of the money from each account.

When police confronted her, Lanners said she had met an individual on a dating website, who sent her the checks and encouraged her to cash them. Lanners admitted she knew it was a scam. She turned over the fake, printed checks.

Lanners is on probation after she was convicted in September 2019 of violating state/county institution laws, when she was caught trying to smuggle drugs into the Stanley Correctional Institution to give them to an Ellsworth man who was imprisoned for his role in a drug overdose fatality.

According to the criminal complaint in that case, corrections officers at the prison apprehended Lanners on May 4, 2019, when she attempted to bring Suboxone, which is a Schedule III controlled substance, into the prison. She had 11 strips of the drugs hidden in her pocket.

Lanners said she was bringing the drugs to 38-year-old Craig Harp of Ellsworth. Harp was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in 2011 for providing pills to 21-year-old Ashley Stock, who overdosed and died in August 2010. The homicide charge was dismissed but Harp was convicted of manufacturing drugs.