Con man sells sob story, cashes bad checks

WASILLA -- A con artist has been selling a story to Wasilla business owners in recent weeks, and it's been working.

Wasilla Police have responded to three different complaints since Oct. 21, each one about a man in need of cash because either his wife or his employee got into a car accident.

The most recent report came from Tub N Tan on Saturday, Oct. 30. Nichole Linn, an employee, told Wasilla police a man came into the store to purchase a tan package, but while in the store he supposedly received a call on his cell phone from his wife that his employee had just been in a car accident in Talkeetna. Linn said the man was shaking, seemed disoriented, upset and in a hurry. He told Linn he needed gas money to get to Talkeetna and asked if he could cash a check.

Because Linn's boss wasn't there at the time, she agreed to give the man $100 out of her own pocket in exchange for a check, but grew suspicious after he left the store.

Linn said the man drove away in a small, four-door silver car. After he left, Linn knew she had been duped, and called police.

The name on the check was Shawn Rutherford, and it listed a Palmer address. Wasilla Police had already taken similar reports of a man writing checks with the same name on the same First National Bank of Alaska account, which is closed.

But police say the man isn't just using the same checking account for his con, he is using a similar story every time.

On Oct. 21, Gary Vilayvong, the owner of Mekong Thai Restaurant in Wasilla, said a man came into his restaurant asking about hosting a wedding party there. Vilayvong said the man was a medium-built white man with a mustache and dark brown hair. He guessed the man was about 5 feet, 10 inches tall.

While inquiring about prices for a large dinner party, Vilayvong said the man suddenly picked up his cell phone and began saying, "Hi honey, why are you crying? Why are you crying? Are the cops there yet?"

The man told Vilayvong it was his wife on the phone, and that one of his employees had just hit a moose with a company truck. He then asked if he could cash a check for $100. Vilayvong said the man seemed upset and in a hurry, so he agreed to cash the check.

The next day Vilayvong went to the bank, but the account listed on the check -- Shawn Rutherford's account -- was closed. Vilayvong said a bank manager at the First National Bank of Alaska told him four or five checks from Rutherford's account had come through in recent weeks.

That same day, the owner of the Mocha Moose Coffee House reported receiving a check for $200 from a man who gave an identical story about his wife and a car accident and needing to cash a check.

Wasilla Chief of Police Don Savage said investigators are looking into the case and are unsure if more than one person is behind the con.

"It's really unfortunate, because this story seems to be working," Savage said. "People are just trying to do the right thing and help someone out, and these individuals are taking advantage of that."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.