News from all over - W Des Moines
A man who police say took restaurant managers to the cleaners for a fake dry cleaning bill has been arrested. Michael Bagwell, who was using the alias Mark Laskowski, carried his dry-cleaning bill to seven suburban Des Moines restaurants earlier this month, police said.
Bagwell went into the Lone Star Steakhouse the first week of June and told the manager that his wife had been in the week before and that a waitress had spilled iced tea on her. He presented a dry cleaning bill for $25.90 and the restaurant's manager, Nicole Graham, apologized and paid the bill.
She became suspicious when Bagwell couldn't remember the zip code for his Clive address, so she watched out the window as he left and saw him go across the road to Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que, where he asked the manager to pay the bill. Police said four restaurant managers paid the bill.
Bagwell was arrested June 4 after police received calls from Lone Star Steakhouse and Famous Dave's. Police found 14 fake dry cleaning bills in his car, along with identification cards with Bagwell's photograph and four other names.
He was charged with theft, perjury and stealing the identity of a former Georgia jail inmate. It's unknown how many times the scam worked, police said. The investigation also has spread to Illinois, Georgia and Louisiana.
Police said Bagwell also told officers his name was Mark Matherne, the name of a man released from a Georgia jail in 2004. The car Bagwell was driving was registered to an Illinois woman, who officers couldn't find, police said.
Bagwell went into the Lone Star Steakhouse the first week of June and told the manager that his wife had been in the week before and that a waitress had spilled iced tea on her. He presented a dry cleaning bill for $25.90 and the restaurant's manager, Nicole Graham, apologized and paid the bill.
She became suspicious when Bagwell couldn't remember the zip code for his Clive address, so she watched out the window as he left and saw him go across the road to Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que, where he asked the manager to pay the bill. Police said four restaurant managers paid the bill.
Bagwell was arrested June 4 after police received calls from Lone Star Steakhouse and Famous Dave's. Police found 14 fake dry cleaning bills in his car, along with identification cards with Bagwell's photograph and four other names.
He was charged with theft, perjury and stealing the identity of a former Georgia jail inmate. It's unknown how many times the scam worked, police said. The investigation also has spread to Illinois, Georgia and Louisiana.
Police said Bagwell also told officers his name was Mark Matherne, the name of a man released from a Georgia jail in 2004. The car Bagwell was driving was registered to an Illinois woman, who officers couldn't find, police said.
