Ohio woman charged in Murrysville bank fraud scheme

An Ohio woman police believe is part of an organized crime group is accused of involvement in a check cashing scheme in Murrysville, according to authorities.

State police released surveillance photos of the suspect last month, seeking help identifying her in connection with the theft of $5,400 in a fraud scheme at three banks in the Greensburg area. She was nabbed this week by Murrysville police at First National Bank on Route 22 after attempting to cash a $3,253 check with a Homer City woman’s drivers license, according to the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office.

Police identified her as Jennifer Carol Folzenlogen, 62, of Cincinnati. She is accused of a similar incident on April 7 at the same Murrysville bank.

State police said Folzenlogen has been involved in similar fraud in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The organized crime group commits mail fraud, steals identities and then withdraws money from their accounts, troopers said.

When state police released surveillance photos last month seeking to identify her, they said she visited three First National Bank branches in Hempfield, Greensburg and South Greensburg on April 7. Money was taken from accounts that didn’t belong to her, police said.

Folzenlogen has not been charged in connection with those incidents.

She is facing charges of forgery, identity theft and related offenses in two cases filed by Murrysville police. She was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $100,000 bond in one of the cases. Folzenlogen is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in the second case, at the same time as a preliminary hearing in both cases.

She did not have an attorney listed in online court records.