RACINE COUNTY — A 35-year-old Milwaukee woman faces almost seven years in prison after allegedly stealing Christmas cards out of a man’s mailbox and forging two checks to cash them in her name.
Kristen Kennedy was charged Tuesday, Nov. 8, in Racine County Circuit Court with one felony count of forgery and one misdemeanor count of bail jumping. If convicted, she faces up to six years, nine months in prison or $20,000 in fines.
The bail jumping charge stems from a 2021 case filed against Kennedy in Waukesha County in which she faces four misdemeanor drug charges. She was assigned a signature bond, but a warrant was issued for her arrest was issued Dec. 10, 2021, when she failed to appear for a hearing.
The criminal complaint: forging stolen checks
According to the Racine County criminal complaint, a man on Jan. 11, 2022, placed two Christmas cards in his mailbox, each containing a check. The man’s bank notified him the next day that a woman attempted to cash both checks—one for $430 and the other for $812—at the drive-thru after crossing out the recipient’s name and writing her own. The woman left her driver’s license, and video from the bank matched Kennedy to the license she left behind.
Kennedy was assigned a $750 cash bail and ordered not to commit any additional crimes. She will next be in court in Racine Nov. 16 for her preliminary hearing. Kennedy’s Waukesha County case remains stalled after the court attempted to have notice of her arrest warrant mailed to an address in Arizona, but the notice was returned marked, “Return to Sender.”
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