Prosecutors say woman attempted to cash fake savings bonds

A woman claiming to be from California allegedly tried to cash counterfeit savings bonds at a Kalispell bank earlier this month.

Prosecutors filed a single felony count of forgery against Liane Maree Lovelace, 55, in Flathead County District Court following the alleged aborted bank transaction on April 7. She is being held in the county jail with bail set at $50,000.

Lovelace is expected to appear before Judge Heidi Ulbricht on April 20 for her arraignment and subsequent bail modification hearing.

Authorities booked Lovelace into the county jail after a teller at a U.S. 2 east bank in Kalispell determined that the savings bonds lacked the coloration and texture of legitimate bonds, court documents said. Lovelace allegedly entered the bank with three $5,000 bonds purportedly now worth $44,070.

The bank’s chief operation officer confirmed the bonds as fraudulent, court documents said. Banking officials told investigators with the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office that fraudsters often set up accounts online and then come into the bank bearing fraudulent bonds.

According to court documents, Lovelace had set up her account in January and never before physically entered the bank.

Lovelace allegedly told deputies that she had just flown in from California and headed immediately to the bank with the bonds, which she said her now-dead grandmother had given her in the 1990s.

She also said she planned to stay with her mother in Whitefish while in the area, but failed to provide an address to authorities, court documents said.

Forgery carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in Montana State Prison and a fine of $10,000. If convicted, Lovelace may also be required to pay restitution.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.