Smith: Check scammer tries to steal from foster kids

This isn’t what Anjana Utarid would prefer to talk about.

She runs Children’s Village, the inventive Santa Rosa home that secures the lives of kids in foster care and assures they aren’t separated from siblings.

Utarid likes to talk about the youngsters and the program, not about check scams. But twice lately, crooks have tried to rip off the Village by doctoring or fabricating checks.

And how creepy is this?

A man walked into a Santa Rosa check-cashing office with a real-looking but counterfeit Children’s Village check made payable to him for $900. Printed on it was the Village’s address and a bogus phone number.

But when the employee at the counter dialed the number to confirm the check was good, on came Utarid’s phone-mail greeting. The crook apparently had called her office, recorded the greeting and transferred it onto his own voicemail.

Fortunately, the check-cash worker wasn’t satisfied she’d in fact reached Children’s Village. She looked up and dialed its actual number. About then, the bad guy slipped out the door.

Incredulous, Utarid cautions other nonprofits to check with their banks and take precautions against check fraud.

“We work so hard to raise every dollar,” she said. “It’s like, really, you’re going to steal from kids?”

CAL PLAYS UCLA this evening, at home. What’s quite certain about the women’s basketball game is that the half-time action will be pure joy.

Evan Hastings, a senior at Cardinal Newman High, will take to the game 20 local Special Olympics athletes aged from their mid-teens to mid-50s. He arranged for them to descend from the bleachers at halftime.

Wearing the smart jerseys Evan bought them with money that he raised, they’ll split into four teams and for a few precious minutes play on the Haas Pavilion court in front of what should be an enchanted crowd.

THAT FLEA MARKET at the Windsor corner of Arata Lane and Old Redwood Highway on Friday and Saturday won’t help fleas any.

But it could do great good for ailing pups treated by the Green Dog Rescue Project.

SRJC PLAYED HOST to a new wine and food gala last Sunday. Oh good, you’re thinking, we need another of those.

But the buzz is that the wine-?business, culinary and hospitality students who pulled off the debut SRJC Wine Classic did so with triumphant panache.

Some of the more than 400 people present say the spirit, live music, appetizers and 50-plus wines were delightful.

Guests liked also that the reception raised scholarship money and honored the good guys who co-chaired it, retired JC viticulture guru Rich Thomas and Joseph Martin, founder of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards and a lecturer at the school.

Already students talk of how to make the second SRJC Wine Classic even better.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD