Mom Accused of Gambling Away Daughters’ Student Loans
A St. Peters, Mo. woman has been charged with seven counts of forgery for taking out $139,000 in student loans in two of her daughters’ names and for using her 71-year-old mother as a cosigner on the loans, all without consent.
The woman, Cynthia Tiemann, forged seven student loan checks in order to feed a gambling addiction, The Associated Press reports (“Police: Mom Took Out Student Loans to Gamble,” April 3, 2009).
One of Tiemann’s daughters discovered the forgeries nearly 18 months after the unauthorized student loans were taken out.
“Her father suggested that she start learning about her credit so he suggested that she pull her credit report online and that’s when she found out about the student loans that were taken out in her name,” said St. Peters public information officer Melissa Doss (“ Family Fraud: Missouri Mom Accused of Gambling Daughter’s Student Loans,” WDAF Kansas City, April 2, 2009).
The daughters were forced to turn in their mother in order to remove the student loans from their credit reports. The girls, now ages 20 and 22, had to prove that they were each the “victim of a crime.”
“If they weren’t a victim of a crime [removing the loans] would have been impossible for them to do,” Doss said.
Tiemann is being held on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court today.
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