By Jacob Hancock
Orem police questioned a young-looking 26-year-old woman about possible underage smoking, and booked her into jail after learning she is wanted in Colorado in a 2004 forgery case and for failure to appear in court. She is now awaiting extradition.
Dave Diehl, a financial crimes detective for the Denver Police Department, said he filed forgery charges against Linda Douang-Phanya in November 2004.
“She was involved in a check forgery at a check-cashing joint,” Diehl said. “But I”m very surprised that they are going to extradite her for that; it”s unusual.”
Because this was a first-time, non-violent offense for Douang-Phanya, it is unusual for both states to spend the large amount of money to go through the transporting process, Diehl said.
A person is usually extradited on terms serious enough for jail or imprisonment, but Colorado forgery charges would have to accumulate to “six or seven offenses” before the person is sent to the department of corrections, Diehl said.
A Colorado court decided the fate of her extradition (as opposed to the police department) because Douang-Phanya did not show up for her court date, Diehl said.
“But if it were us [the Denver Police Department] we”d do this all different,” he said.
Even though forgery is a felony, the charge and warrant for the person”s arrest is only applicable in the state or its surrounding regions. When one commits non-violent crimes and moves to another state, it is like using a get-out-of-jail-free card, Diehl said.
“No one wants to spend the kind of money to transport [a suspect] for smaller stuff,” he said.
This time, however, Colorado”s court authorities told Orem police “they want her” anyway, said Lt. Doug Edwards, Orem police spokesman.
The extradition process should take between a few days to a couple weeks, “depending on if she fights the process,” Edwards said.
