Wrote $1.6 Million in Bad Checks, Man Admits

A former Woodland Hills man pleaded guilty Monday to felony bank fraud for writing $1.6 million in bad checks. In return, the government dropped a charge that he carried more than $2.5 million in stolen traveler’s checks.

Raoul Berthaumieu, 46, also known as Lee Sanders, was indicted by a federal grand jury in November, 1989, on charges of intentionally writing $1.6 million in worthless checks on a Los Angeles bank account and depositing them in a new account at Centerre Bank in St. Louis. Berthaumieu withdrew $655,000 from the bank before it realized the deposits were no good, the indictment said.

Centerre Bank since has merged with The Boatmen’s National Bank. The indictment was kept secret until Berthaumieu’s arrest in Melbourne, Australia, last June.