A local woman on parole from an attempted murder conviction in 2015 who was arrested last year for embezzling over $18,000 from her grandmother was sentenced to eight years in prison Wednesday on fraud and forgery charges.
Rehannon Marie Dorsey, 32, who has remained in custody since her arrest on Oct. 7, 2022, pleaded guilty to felony counts of financial identity fraud and second-degree forgery and was sentenced to eight years on each count, to run concurrent, and was ordered to pay $380 in court costs while an additional felony count of failure to appear was withdrawn.
According to court records, Dorsey pleaded guilty to criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder on May 13, 2015, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison while additional charges of kidnapping and aggravated robbery were withdrawn. The charges stemmed from the kidnapping, shooting and robbery of a local man on March 21, 2013, by two masked men.
It was later determined Dorsey had "set up" the victim, who was a friend of hers, and was dating one of the suspects involved at the time. The victim was shot multiple times and later had his leg amputated due to the attack on him.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the fraud charge, on Aug. 22, 2022, a report was made by an employee of Diamond Lake Federal Credit Union and Dorsey's grandmother, 86, a member of the credit union, regarding a fraud committed by a known suspect, identified as Dorsey.
On May 30, the grandmother opened a checking account at DLFCU and added Dorsey as an authorized person. She said she created the account so Dorsey could have a bank account for her sole use, but the grandmother never placed any money into or withdrew any money from the account.
On June 2, an electronic loan application was made to Lending Point LLC in the grandmother's name, using her personal information, and including an electronic signature. On June 16, the DLFCU account was logged into and contact information was updated to reflect only information for Dorsey.
On June 28, the loan was approved for $18,378.28 and $17,338, the full loan minus fees, was deposited into Dorsey's account. That same day, Dorsey made a cash withdrawal from the account. Dorsey was positively identified making the withdrawal, the affidavit states.
The grandmother told Hot Springs police she did not apply for the loan and signed no paperwork for the loan. The loan application was completed using personal banking information of the grandmother from the account shared by she and Dorsey. The affidavit noted Dorsey was the only other person able to access the bank account.
Dorsey had been arrested for failure to appear on Oct. 7, 2022, and she was served with the fraud warrant on Oct. 27. She had been arrested on the second-degree forgery charge on Dec. 11, 2021, and was later released on bond.
According to the affidavit on the forgery charge, on Oct. 21, 2021, shortly after 11 a.m., HSPD Officer Aaron Combs responded to Cash 'N Carry Liquor, 4738 Central Ave., regarding a forgery.
He spoke to the victim, 52, who stated on Oct. 14 he had written a check for $27 to pay a temporary employee, identified as Dorsey. He later received information from his bank, Southern Bancorp, that a check for $770 was cashed to Dorsey.
The victim noted he did not authorize or write that amount and the check had been altered by Dorsey and after further investigation a warrant was issued on the forgery charge.