5 women accused of using check fraud scheme to steal $30K from Buffalo Township school bus company

State police accused five women of stealing nearly $30,000 from a school bus company in Buffalo Township by forging the owner’s signature on bogus paychecks that they deposited in their checking accounts.

One of the people arrested worked for the bus company, and another was employed at the bank where more than a third of the stolen money was deposited, according to authorities.

Only one of the five people charged has been taken into custody, court records show. A man accused of participating in the fraud scheme was identified in court papers but has not yet been charged.

Lisa Renee Parker, 33, of the 7100 block of Upland Street in Homewood was charged Sept. 11 with 13 felony counts each of forgery and identity theft along with 13 counts of writing bad checks.

Parker was released from custody on a $5,000 unsecured bond and ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Sue Haggerty on Nov. 8, court records show.

Police also charged the following people, who have not yet been taken into custody:

• Jabria O. James-Saunders, 24: Eight felony counts each of forgery and identity theft, eight counts of writing bad checks.

• Britney L. Goodwine, 32: Eight felony counts each of forgery and identity theft, eight counts of writing bad checks.

• Precious Lamonte Hudson, 32: One felony count each of conspiracy to commit identity theft and conspiracy to commit forgery along with a count of writing bad checks.

• Selena Maria Jackson, 23: Three felony counts each of forgery and identity theft, three counts of writing bad checks.

Criminal charges have not yet been filed against the sixth person named in Parker’s arrest papers.

Police began investigating last September after the president of the W.L. Roenigk bus company on Ekastown Road reported that they were notified by their bank that 36 counterfeit checks totaling $29,360 were issued by the company, according to the criminal complaint filed against Parker.

The checks were made to look like the ones issued to bus company employees and forged the president’s signature, investigators said.

Thirteen of the checks were written out to Parker. Saunders and Goodwine each got eight checks, and three were made out to Jackson. One check went to Hudson. The other three were written out to the man who has not yet been charged, court records show.

Roenigk’s president told police that Hudson worked for the company.

A state trooper got a warrant for the bus company’s bank records. He learned that the 36 checks were deposited into multiple accounts at Citizens National Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Dollar Bank and First National Bank, the complaint said.

Records from those banks were used by police to identify the suspects.

Police said Parker opened an employee account at First National Bank in February 2022 and deposited 13 checks totaling just over $10,500.

Investigators said Goodwine was working at First National Bank during the time Parker made the deposits.

Court records show Goodwine pleaded guilty in May 2022 to felony counts of illegal possession of a firearm and possession of drugs with the intent to deliver. She was sentenced to serve 11 to 23 months in jail and three years of probation. The charges were filed by Pittsburgh police in August 2021.

In 2015, Goodwine pleaded guilty to three felony and one misdemeanor drug charges filed by Penn Hills police the previous year. She was sentenced to two years of probation, court records show.

She also pleaded guilty to drug possession in 2019 and was sentenced to a year of probation. In 2018, she pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was sentenced to 27 to 54 days in jail and six months of probation, court records show.