Inmate faces forgery charges after using cousin's name

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- A Sikeston, Missouri, resident is facing a felony charge after lying twice to law enforcement officers about her identity.

Shericka Shuntay Lindsey, 19, is charged with forgery, a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison, according to a news release from Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore.

The incident took place Thursday afternoon, when Sikeston Department of Public Safety officers delivered a municipal inmate to the Mississippi County Detention Center.

During intake, the woman used her cousin's name to identify herself and then provided a fraudulent birth date and Social Security number. The woman was booked into the facility under that name.

When the intake process was complete, corrections staff printed the booking report and asked Lindsey to review the information and then sign her name to the bottom of the page. Lindsey read over the page and then signed the fraudulent name.

Shortly afterward, corrections officer Gerald Douglas became suspicious when the inmate was unable to remember her own birthday and Social Security number.

During a subsequent interview conducted by the jail administrator, deputy Cory Hutcheson, Lindsey acknowledged her real name.

Lindsey said she had provided fraudulent information to avoid being arrested, and was afraid to change her story, even after she was positively identified by Sikeston officers who had already figured it out.

Hutcheson later confirmed that Lindsey done the same thing a day earlier, when she provided false information to Sikeston officers, signed the false name to the booking report and been charged with forgery in Scott County.

"This was a real déjà vu experience for her. Some people learn from their mistakes," Hutcheson said, "and some don't."

Public records reveal Lindsey faces an additional forgery charge in Scott County.