Downtown Merchant Claims Check Thieves Stole Her Christmas

SAN ANGELO, TX — Yesterday, Dec. 21, Darlakay “Darlakay” Lopez-Cardenas answered a phone call from her bank. The news was not what a small business owner wants to hear right before Christmas. The bank informed her that a check a customer gave her for over $900 in goods purchased at her store, Pure, 16 E. Concho Ave., had bounced.

She is the owner of the boutique clothing, lingerie, and salon on Block One downtown.

Her bank suggested she go to the financial institution from where the check was written and see if funds were available in the checking account before running it through again. You can always run a check through twice, but if it bounced again, Darlakay would be liable for more returned check fees.

At the originating bank, Darlakay was asked to visit with a banker in private. “They said the account from where the check was written had been closed for over a year,” Darlakay said. The originating bank had charged off the account and closed it, they said.

“I was robbed.” Darlakay said. “They knew what their intentions were.”

The check had a name, address, and phone number. Darlakay called the phone number but it was disconnected. So, Darlakay went on Facebook looking for the thief. She found not one, but maybe a few. In her post, the thread exceeded over 300 comments. Other business owners from San Angelo to as far away as Abilene chimed in. ‘We were hit by them too,’ the comments stated.

Surprisingly, a trio of women who claimed they were the shoppers who issued the bad $906 check, chimed in too, admitting to it. One of the suspects claimed illness, and then claimed their boyfriend was supposed to put money in that account for her, but reneged (even though bank had previously closed the account).

In the memo of the check, the suspect wrote, “Treat yo self.”

“We were hit by this family twice last year! Sometimes they travel together and separate as well. Not sure why they are not in jail!” wrote Dana Calhoun. Dana owns Grigsbys Boutique in San Angelo. 

Tina Willis owns the boutique store, By the Way, in the Sunset Mall. She claimed the same thieves hit her. “Absolutely, (it was) the same people. I just went back and looked! It was Brooklyn Mullins whose name was on the check. She had her mother fill it out! I turned them in for a $600 hot check and have heard nothing! This was 2016! They came in as a team and stated that they had school loan money going in (their account).”

Debbie Landers posted the picture of the hot check. Facebook suspended her for that. “Criminals have more rights than the people they scam,” she said about Facebook’s policing. Debbie owns It’s the Cowgirl Way at 4 E. Concho Ave., in the same Block One as Darlakay.

According to Debbie, “The mom wrote the check and Sarah signed it. I had a bad feeling (should have listened to my gut). So, I took a picture of her writing the check. Then, I took it (the check) to her bank to cash it and was told the account was closed.” Debbie was able to contact the mother of the duo that day and the mom promised to bring cash the next day. This was in July. “They still owe me $470+,” she wrote yesterday.

Carrie Carrion works at a hotel for a large chain in Abilene. “I work at a local hotel and they pulled one over on us! Her whole family! Daughters and husband! Her and her cancer BS. Oh and the medical problems her daughters have. Every one of them has something going on. I am surprised they can even walk and talk to hear her tell it!! These people are the lowest of the low. Everyone in town needs to know about them so just keep blasting!! They don’t need to get away with this anymore!”

Autumn Brockman owns A-Rock Salon around the corner. She wasn’t hit by the check thieves, but had a strong case of empathy for Darlakay and wanted to spread the word about the suspected bad check writers. For that, she too had her Facebook account suspended.

Like most boutique and salon owners in the region, Autumn conducts much of her marketing on Facebook. While placed in what she called “Facebook jail,” she was unable to contact her customers through the social media platform while Facebook investigated. She said the bad check suspects had reported her to Facebook, earning her suspension.

According to the police report filed by Darlakay, the bad check was written on Dec. 15. That is when “Hannah Wallis and her entire family—mother (Bonnie Mullins), grandmother, and sisters [purportedly including Brooklynn Mullins]—walked into my business, Pure, 16 E. Concho Ave. and made a purchase on several items that totaled $906.85. She wrote a check with an account that has been closed and charged off for over a year at First Financial Bank.

“While the family was in my store, they were discussing who was going to write the check. The discussion took place between the mother, Bonnie Mullins and Hannah Kay Wallis. This is per the receptionist and I have video footage from my cameras located in my store,” the report states.

Meanwhile, Patricia Limon sells health supplements. On Facebook, Darlakay took a screenshot of the exchange between Limon and Bonnie Mullins, one of the suspects Darlakay identified.

“You wrote me a check on a closed account,” Limon wrote.

Bonnie Mullins, the mother, replied, “Sure did.”

Darlakay's report was filed Dec. 21. She hopes police are investigating. So do many other business owners who claim they were victimized by the scheme of the bad check writers.

A hot check between a sum of $500 to $1499 is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail or a fine of $4,000 or both, as well as the restitution of the amount of money owed in the check.

Just because these ladies are accused of writing bad checks does not mean they are guilty until determined in a court of law.