Check Washers Launder Money the Easy Way

Methamphetamine addicts steal personal and business checks from the mail, give them a bath, and cash the revived drafts to feed their habits. 

Joe and Samantha Etinger were driving on an Arizona highway when police pulled them over for a routine traffic stop.1 During a search of their car, the officers found five personal checks that the occupants had stolen from the mail in various Arizona cities. Joe and Sam had "washed" away the payees and signatures on the checks with chemicals and had planned to fill in their own information and cash them.  

Postal inspectors, who had obtained a search warrant, found six additional stolen checks in the suspects' motel room and one more soaking in a washing solution. Both husband and wife admitted to needing the money to support their methamphetamine habits.