19-year-old sentenced to jail for check fraud

OGDEN -- A member of a ring of check-kiting adolescents has been sentenced to time in Weber County Jail.

Britney Kylie Thorpe, 19, of Riverdale, was ordered to pay restitution of nearly $10,000 and sentenced to 45 days in jail. She is one of four young women charged since June with communications fraud for opening checking accounts to allegedly bounce thousands of dollars in bad checks.

In 2nd District Court last week, Thorpe was ordered to pay $9,588.99 in restitution "jointly and severally" with any accomplices. The cases of her three female co-defendants' are still pending.

The restitution included $4,592.87 to Weber Credit Union, $4,006.14 to America First Credit Union and $959.98 to Mountain America Credit Union.

Riverdale police said the bad checks were often used to open new accounts, which were then also subsequently overdrawn, a process called check kiting.

The women were very cooperative once they got over the shock of the seriousness of the offenses, said Riverdale Police Detective Bill Fuchs.

"They told our detective, 'Felonies? Really?' " Lt. Jim Ebert said.

"They were very cooperative," Fuchs said. "They didn't lawyer up. The money was used mostly to pay bills, cover expenses, as opposed to buying big-ticket items."

Several of the women, he said, had pulled the same scam when they were juveniles and apparently avoided serious consequences.

Sisters Kelli Ann and Kari Marie Ford, 19 and 20, respectively, of Roy, are each charged with one count of second-degree felony communications fraud. The charge becomes a second- degree felony when the amount of money involved exceeds $5,000.

Jessica Ann Richardson, 21, of West Valley City, and Thorpe were charged with third-degree felony communications fraud.

Richardson pleaded guilty earlier this month and faces sentencing Nov. 18.

Charged in May and sentenced in July for their part in the scheme were Travis Mixon, 19, and Rayshawn Johnson, 18, then of West Haven.

Both were sentenced on communications fraud charges to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay restitution: Mixon, $3,946.92 to America First and $1,333.86 to Mountain America; and Johnson, $1,354.50 to America First.

A seventh defendant, age 17, was prosecuted in juvenile court, police said, while two other adolescents were strongly suspected but not charged.