Around Southeast Missouri 3/16/07

Fraud, forgery suspect sought by counties

Monica Nicholson, also known as Sakina Denise Jones, is wanted by counties across Southeast Missouri and the U.S. Secret Service for fraud and forgery. With charges pending in Dunklin, Perry and Jefferson counties and at the federal level, authorities say Nicholson has made her way through Stoddard County multiple times since the beginning of the year. According to Bloomfield, Mo., police chief Jason Curtman, Town & Country Supermarket in Bloomfield unknowingly cashed three fraudulent checks for the suspect. The first two checks, in the amounts of $499.50 and $685.50, were cashed on New Years Eve, which is the first time Curtman said they recalled seeing her in the store. The third check came through March 1 and appeared to be a payroll check from a company named Johnson Computer Solutions of Cairo, Ill. Nicholson was incarcerated in Decatur, Ill., during the latter part of 2006 and allegedly bonded out on a fake $10,000 cashier's check. Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Nicholson or who thinks they might have come into contact with her is urged to call local law enforcement officials immediately.

--Dexter Daily Statesman

Grant application will require an appraisal

BENTON, Mo. -- Gloryland will need to get a ballpark value for the building it wishes to purchase before Scott County will offer sponsorship for a grant. Bishop Charles Green from Gloryland Community Development Corp. met with Scott County officials during their regular meeting Tuesday to discuss the Community Development Block Grant application. Gloryland is pursuing the grant to purchase the old Lincoln School building in Sikeston, Mo., which now houses the Lincoln-Gloryland Community Center. Green said Gloryland has leased the building since 2002. County developer Joel Evans presented commissioners and Green with a list of documentation requested by Joe Lane, director of community planning for the Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission at Dexter, Mo. The most critical documentation on Lane's list is an appraisal of the building, according to Evans. Green said the Department of Economic Development does not require a full appraisal at this time. Green said a walk-through appraisal is scheduled soon but a full appraisal would not be conducted until the grant's approval. Evans also advised the local matching funds proposed for the grant application are only one-sixth of 1 percent of the project's total cost.

--Sikeston Standard Democrat