One tough lady

Laura Valdez, an Albuquerque special education teacher, refused to let an accused thief get away with stealing money from her bank and her bank with not reimbursing those lost funds. She won on both counts. Snuggled in her arms is her dog, Ceraquagui. (Pat Vasquez-Cunningham/Journal)

Laura Valdez works hard for the money, but she probably never expected she would have to work this hard.

Not only did the Albuquerque special ed teacher have to help apprehend the man accused of stealing her checks from her mailbox – leading to a dramatic and potentially dangerous confrontation with the man and his mother (seriously) – she also had to fight her bank to reimburse the missing funds.

Like always, Valdez had mailed off her checks to pay bills Feb. 8, placing them in the mailbox on her placid, safe stretch of Rio Grande NW.

That day, at least three of those checks were stolen, then chemically washed, which removes the ink and allows the thief to write in what he or she wants.

A check Valdez wrote for $70 was altered and cashed for $700. A check made out to her auto insurance agency for $506 was written out to someone else and cashed.

Ah, but this check thief had made a miscalculation. Valdez is a teacher, remember, and a University of New Mexico graduate student whose modest salary leaves little cushioning in the checkbook.

So, the next day, when the thief attempted to cash a third check – this one inflated from $147 to $447 – that check bounced.

Valdez said she received a call from her BBVA Compass Bank branch at Fourth and Griegos NW that afternoon, informing her that a man named Anthony Moya was in the bank trying to cash the check but couldn’t because of insufficient funds.

“They were wondering what to do,” she said. “I stated I had not written a check in that amount to anyone named Anthony Moya.”

Valdez said she grabbed her phone, called 911, hopped in her car and dashed to the bank.

“When I got there, I saw a guy in the foyer,” she said. “I went to the door, and he opened it, and the first thing he said to me was ‘You don’t remember me? I did that work for you and now they won’t cash my check.’ ”

Now, you might expect that Moya, a man with three teardrops inked under his left eye and “Duranes” and “13″ tattooed across his forearm, would intimidate a teacher like Valdez.

But Valdez was about to teach him who she was.

“I am from Española, and I worked as an educator on the south side of Tucson for 14 years with Bloods, Crips, the Mexican Mafia and many cartel members,” she said. “I know what I know.”

She told him she was on the phone with police, that what he was doing was wrong, that he better not leave, and then as he stood there scowling and yelling, she provided the dispatcher with his description.

Then she saw the door open to a white GMC Jimmy with tinted windows parked outside.

“And I thought, here we go; I’m about to get blasted,” she said.

Instead, out trundled a small, older woman who identified herself as Moya’s mother.

Mom yelled at Moya. Moya yelled at Valdez. And Valdez yelled right back.

I can’t print exactly what she yelled.

“I was so angry he was trying to rip me off,” she said.

Moments later, Albuquerque police arrived and arrested Moya on a felony forgery charge. Moya – who is either 29 or 32, depending on which birth date he is using – posted $5,000 bail and was released Feb. 15, Metropolitan Detention Center records show.

But Valdez’s problems weren’t over yet.

Valdez said no one at her bank seemed to know if or when she would be able to recoup the stolen $1,206, even though she had fraud protection on her account.

“I have been fed misinformation from the start of this fiasco,” she said. “First, I was told this would remedy itself within 48 hours of affidavits being signed. Then, I was told it would actually take seven to 10 days. Finally, they claimed up to 90 days.”

And, then, for a few days, they said her money might not be returned at all.

Terms and conditions vary at each bank, so unless you have thoroughly combed over your bank’s policies you may not realize you have little protection at all should the worst happen.

No one from BBVA Compass returned my repeated calls, so it’s unclear what its policy is regarding fraud protection and check theft.

And that FDIC thing? Contrary to what you might think, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation doesn’t protect you if someone steals your money or forges your checks; it protects you if your bank fails.

New Mexico Attorney General’s Office spokesman Phil Sisneros said his office is typically not involved in stolen check cases.

“In terms of victim’s rights, it varies depending upon their financial institution’s policies and local police and legal jurisdictions,” he said.

Which means that, in the end, a consumer’s best, perhaps only, hope to recoup a loss is to become a very squeaky wheel.

So Valdez squeaked.

Thirteen days and numerous calls later – including a couple to us in the local media – she eventually found a BBVA Compass Bank regional manager who agreed to make an “exception” and refund the full $1,206 to Valdez’s account. That happened Feb. 20.

It may be too little, too late.

“As soon as I have time, I want to see what the New Mexico Educators (Federal) Credit Union has to offer,” she said.

Until then, she’s paying her bills online.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
See TEACHER on PAGE A3from PAGE A1Teacher confronts check thief, wrestles with bankMOYA: Arrested on forgery charge”I am from Española, and I worked as an educator on the south side of Tucson for 14 years with Bloods, Crips, the Mexican Mafia and many cartel members. I know what I know. “<quote_attribution>LAURA VALDEZ

— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal