SHE MAY ALREADY NOT BE A WINNER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 1, 1993                   TAG: 9301010075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN  STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                LENGTH: Short
SHE MAY ALREADY NOT BE A WINNER
The $10,000 sweepstakes check may have looked like a winner, but it wasn't.
A West Virginia woman has been charged with grand larceny after being accused of cashing an altered promotional sweepstakes check at a Giles County credit union.
Nannette Althea Hearn of Bluefield was picked up in West Virginia and brought to Giles County Thursday.
Investigator Willie Lucas of the Giles County Sheriff's Office said Hearn is accused of presenting the altered check at the Celco Federal Credit Union in mid-December. She is not an employee of Hoechst-Celanese.
The check stub indicated the check was not legitimate and was for promotional purposes, Lucas said. Those words had been cut away, along with the stub, and the check was presented for payment, Lucas said.
The check had been altered "to where . . . it didn't seem to be any problem," Lucas said. "They cashed it."
Lucas said the promotional check was part of a sweepstakes mailing operated out of Ohio and was not one of the major sweepstakes such as Publisher's Clearing House.
The check was endorsed with Hearn's name. Hearn is accused of depositing $5,000 into her account and taking the remaining $5,000.
Bank employees took a closer look at the check later in the day while reviewing transactions and brought it to the attention of the manager, Lucas said.
Bond would likely be set at $10,000, Lucas said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB