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Pair arrested for meth, forgery BY JULIE SWENSEN Two Medford residents were arrested Friday after police found a meth lab and evidence of a large counterfeit check scam in their home. The computer-generated checks turned up from the Southern Oregon coast to Klamath Falls and all the way up to Beaverton. "In the forgery world, for us this is big," Medford police Lt. Tim George said. Police served a search warrant at 412 Haven St. in Medford Thursday night. There, they arrested Jeffrey David Miller, 43, and Loretta Jean Wooton, 37, who both live there. Medford police arrested Miller on charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree, possession of methamphetamine, and computer crime. The Jackson County Narcotic Enforcement Team arrested Miller on charges of delivery and manufacture of methamphetamine and ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He was lodged in the Jackson County Jail on $275,000 bail. Police arrested Wooton on charges of possession of methamphetamine, probation violation and criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree. She was lodged in the Jackson County Jail on $10,000 bail. More people will likely be arrested in the case. George described Miller as a career criminal and said he was the "mastermind" of the operation, which used the Versacheck computer program to make checks. The two either got bank account numbers from businesses' checks or out of the mail, George said. and those numbers were then used on the fake checks. The scam also involved making phony identification to pass the counterfeit checks. Among the evidence police found were four personal computers, a scanner, a printer, a fax machine and lamination material to make the fake identification. George said 23 checks have come back from the bank already, but "that's just a fraction of what's out there because this is going to involve at least 10-12 other jurisdictions." The total loss is unknown. Additional checks and victims are expected to be discovered. George said Versacheck is "the latest craze" in check fraud and that Medford police detective Sue Campbell, who handles check fraud cases, has has seen her workload increase by at least half. That doesn't surprise George, who speculated that checks might become a thing of the past as they become easier to forge and misuse. Sophisticated computer software and the availability of check manufacturing paper make things easier for legitimate use, as well as for criminals. "You really can't make one (a check) that's tamper-proof anymore," George said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA