CEDAR CITY — Cedar City Police recently arrested a man who allegedly deposited $11,500 in fraudulent checks and subsequently withdrew more than $9,500 in cash.

Iron County Jail, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 22, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

German Mujica Aranda, 23, was booked into Iron County Jail on March 7. He faces one count of issuing bad checks exceeding $5,000, a second-degree felony.

According to the probable cause statement filed in support of Aranda’s arrest, a State Bank of Southern Utah employee who had filed a fraud report contacted Cedar City Police on Feb. 9. 

The affidavit alleges that on Jan. 30, Aranda opened a business checking account for a company called Worklab Solutions. On Feb. 1, he allegedly deposited a check for $7,000 and then went to a different teller and withdrew $6,000. He also allegedly withdrew $800 from an ATM at that location. Later that same day, he allegedly went to another of the bank’s locations in Cedar City and deposited a $2,500 check before withdrawing $2,000, followed by $100 more from the ATM.

Then, on the following day, Aranda allegedly returned to the first location and deposited a $2,000 check before withdrawing another $800 from the ATM.

A few days later, all three checks bounced and the bank reportedly contacted Aranda about them.

State Bank of Southern Utah, Cedar City, Utah, March 19, 2024 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“He told them he would come in and make a deposit,” the affidavit states. “He never did.”

During the ensuing investigation, Cedar City Police matched the photo on Aranda’s driver license and the pickup truck registered to him to surveillance images taken from the ATMs. Investigators also received copies of records indicating the Hillcrest Bank account from which Aranda allegedly wrote the checks was showing a negative balance.

When contacted by police on March 7, Aranda reportedly told police he had an account with Hillcrest Bank but wasn’t sure if he had one with State Bank of Southern Utah.

“He claimed the checks were deposited for payroll but wasn’t sure where any paperwork was for his payroll and claimed he had shut his business down and had thrown out his paperwork,” the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.

On March 11, Aranda was released from Iron County Jail after posting a $5,000 bond and promising to appear. His initial court appearance has been scheduled for the morning of March 26 before 5th District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen.

Cedar City News has reached out to State Bank of Southern Utah officials but they declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

This report is based on statements from court documents and law enforcement officials and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

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