Cold Case Investigators: The Happy Paperhanger

By Merrill Vaughan

For over five years, an individual has been writing checks that do not have sufficient funds in the accounts. He is able to obtain state driver's licenses that he uses to open checking accounts with just enough money to keep the accounts open. He does not really steal other people's identification, he just makes up the names that he uses. For over five years, he has cost communities in Southern California thousands of dollars and has caused police departments to run in circles trying to catch him.

That is, until one police department calls in the Cold Case Investigators to assist them. It is through a serious mistake on the part of the check writer that he is finally caught by one of the private investigators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887638706

Book preview

Table of Contents

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About the Author

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Cold Case Investigators

The Happy Paperhanger

Merrill Vaughan

Copyright © 2023 Merrill Vaughan

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2023

This is a work of fiction. Named characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN 979-8-88763-869-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88763-870-6 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Also by Merrill Vaughan

The Kidnapping

1

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a paperhanger is a slang term for one who passes worthless checks. In this case, the person is a crafty one. At first, he was strictly in Riverside, California, and always wore a used light-brown overcoat and a deep-brown, wide-brimmed fedora hat that was always down to one side to hide his face from any cameras. He rarely spoke except in guttural tones. He did have one common characteristic. He always smiled, hence the moniker Happy Paperhanger.

The case that had been plaguing Southern California for at least five years had Riverside Police Department contacted Cold Case Investigators for assistance.

Cold Case Investigators—or CCI, as they had become known—was started by Paul Gibbons and John Sommers, both retired US Air Force Security police investigators. They created the company as a result of a case that involved one of their own, an assault against his wife and the kidnapping of their son.

Four years later, they were able to assist the FBI in tracking down the couple who were involved. The son was returned safely, and while the male suspect, who was in the Army at the time of the crimes, was given life at Leavenworth, his wife received twenty years in a federal prison.

It was during the paperhanger case that the Riverside Police Department contacted CCI to help them solve the case. John Sommers became the lead coordinator with the PD and CCI. He had been a crack investigator in the service, but he was stumped on this case. This person was almost as good as the kidnapper, but not as violent. Devious, yes, but has never harmed anyone or shown a weapon of any kind.

It was during the later stages of the kidnapping case that Patrick Johnson Sr., the kidnapped child's father, joined the CCI. They had worked together before and were successful. Now, they could work together once again and catch this person.

The paperhanger had now moved into other communities within Riverside County and had even changed targets. He began to hit libraries, liquor stores, and police departments, and their closed-circuit TV cameras were not functioning. He did not target any place that required double forms of identification.

He had changed his disguise to a Los Angeles Dodgers blue windbreaker and baseball cap, sometimes with his right hand wrapped up in gauze and covering his fingertips and in a sling. His other hand has had his fingertips scarred and mutilated that defeated the minimum of the twelve points for positive identification.

A few days earlier, in the city of Riverside, Paul and Patrick, along with Patrick's wife, Sherrie, were sitting in a doughnut shop when Patrick thought he had spotted the paperhanger. He was sitting near the door, wearing a Dodger blue windbreaker and baseball cap with one arm in a sling and his hand wrapped in gauze.

He noticed Paul and Patrick eyeballing him, and he took off out the door. By the time they got to the door, he had diapered into the crowd on the sidewalk. They started to walk down the street when they heard the whine of a Vespa scooter roaring down the street. The driver had a Dodger blue windbreaker and an LA Dodgers baseball cap on, the sling flapping in the breeze behind him as he waved his so-called bandaged hand at them.

I'll bet you a month's pay it is stolen and will be found someplace near the university, Patrick told Paul as they walked back to the doughnut shop to get Sherrie.

Laughing, Paul told him, No bet, and I will call Detective Small that we spotted him but let him get away. I wonder where he is going to hit next.

2

The next morning, Paul, John, and Patrick met in the conference room with Janet Beardsley, who was their administrative assistant. Janet had served with them from the beginning of the CCI and had served as an administrative specialist in their Air Force Squadron. They all knew how each other clicked.

Paul asked John to give everyone an update on the paperhanger case.

The case is over five years old. The perp continues to hit different businesses wearing a wide array of disguises—from an old trench coat and wide hat to an LA Dodgers blue windbreaker and baseball cap.

We know all of that, John. Tell us something we do not know, Patrick told him.

With a sly smile on his face, John looked at Paul and said, "You guys almost got him a few days ago, but you let him get away. You guys getting too old to chase bad guys now? Anyway, he hit another liquor store yesterday. He limits himself to no more than ten dollars over the item he purchases, if he is allowed. In this case, it was a bottle of Gekkeikan Black & Gold Sake from a Japanese establishment for fifteen dollars."

Janet looked at all three investigators. Just a thought, guys. Has he ever hit a restaurant or a department store yet? What about a fast-food place?

John spoke up first. Nope, none of the above. I spoke to Detective Small last week on the same question. So far, he has not.

Janet looked at Paul and suggested what she had been thinking of lately. Paul, would you allow me to work as undercover in the town that he is currently working in? You know that I am good at observing people and can handle myself. I have taken a couple of classes in defensive tactics offered by the Riverside PD.

Let me think about it. Have you spoken to your boyfriend, Ronald, about your crazy idea?

She gave a pout that made John laugh as she replied negative to her talking to Ronald Overton, her boyfriend, who was stationed at March Air Reserve Base outside of Riverside.

Patrick asked her what she would do if the person came into where she worked and wrote out a check for ten dollars over the purchase price but did not fit the descriptions that they had now.

Well, first of all, not everyone is hanging paper. I would ask for a photo ID and make sure it matches up with the information on the check.

How can you tell if the check is real or bogus?

Patrick, I have done some research on this. A real check will have a check number on it and the bank routing number on the bottom. Some banks have even started to put in watermarks to prove it is theirs.

Paul, she might be good to use like this. The problem is, we do not know when or where this person will hit. Hell, we don't even know if it is a male or female suspect yet. We are going under the assumption, and you know I hate that word, that this person is male.

Tell you what, Janet, let's wait a bit and see if this person stays in one place long enough for us to try and set something up. But let Ronald know, I do not want him to think I was putting his love into harm's way without him knowing anything. Do you understand what I am saying to you now?

John spoke up and told Paul that he and Patrick were going over to the PD to talk with Detective Small about Janet's idea if they could get a handle on this person.

John and Patrick went into John's office to get some things when his phone rang. John raised his eyebrow and said to Patrick, Bet you a Boston cream doughnut it's Small.

You're on. I say it's MJ.

This is John Sommers.

No, dear, I am not eating a doughnut. We just finished a meeting on the current case. Patrick and I are heading out to the PD to talk to the lead detective.

Patrick was doing everything he could to not laugh out loud as John rolled his eyes upward as he continued to listen to his wife.

Yes, dear, I will watch what I eat for lunch. I have to go. Talk to you tonight. I love you. He quickly hung up and told Patrick to quit laughing.

Patrick stuck his hand out and told John to give him two dollars, and he would not force him to buy the doughnut.

As they went out to the car, John asked Patrick how he knew it was MJ.

"Top-notch investigator intuition—that's all, my friend, intuition."

While driving to the Riverside PD, they listened to the radio news channel talking about the kidnapping that was just recently solved. Ex-army sergeant first class Roderic Duval, convicted of kidnapping a two-year-old boy from his Air Force parents from Norton AFB four years ago, is now en route to the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas. He was convicted in a general court-martial of rape, murder, assault, bodily harm, and kidnapping. However, he was found not guilty of ‘death of an unborn' that occurred during the assault. His wife, Josie Duval, is now serving twenty years at the federal prison in Dublin, California.

John started to change the channel, but Patrick stopped him. Let's see what else he has to say.

The child, Patrick Johnson Jr., was safely returned to his parents last month. It appears to authorities that no physical harm was done to the boy.

John asked Patrick how Junior—oops, Pat was now doing.

Pat, as he now likes to be called, is doing great. He has already gotten some As in school, and his psychologist is saying that he is a remarkable young boy. He is like a rubber band—he has been pulled, but he snapped right back into place. I think he will turn out to be a great big brother to his sister and the twins.

When they arrived at the police department, they were greeted by an attractive blonde, whose hair was like golden wheat, and her deep blue eyes reminded Patrick of a deep lake in the mountains. John gave his smile that most women melt under as he told her they had an appointment with Detective Small.

Small came out and shook Patrick's hand after John introduced him. He escorted them back to his office, where he had a stack of folders on his desk. He offered them coffee then began talking about the case that was driving everyone completely nuts in the law enforcement community.

Small began to brief them on the history going back five years. He told them of the early disguises of trench coat and hat; to shorts and Hawaiian shirts with a Panama hat, with large 1960s-style sunglasses that had large frames and thick, dark lenses; to the current Dodger blue disguise. All he would do was smile every time. That is the one distinguishable feather of this guy.

Patrick asked about the report of mutilated fingerprints.

Either he has his fingertips covered or they are all mutilated so that we cannot get the minimum twelve points needed for identification.

John asked him if there was a possibility this bad check writer was a female.

To be honest, we do not know. This person has no physical attributes of a female. However, there always is a possibility this person is like Twiggy, if you catch my meaning.

Has there ever been a time when there were two bad checks cashed at the same time with the same description? Patrick asked.

Small went through the stack of folders on his desk and pulled out a folder. One year ago today to be exact. There were three bad checks written in the city within two hours of each. However, none fit the description we had at the time, and we were able to arrest two of them within two days.

And the third one?

Still at large. We think he either left the area, died, or he went out of state. Did not fit the description of our person though.

Were the checks from more than one bank or credit union? Or could he have dummied up false checks? John asked.

He must have a slew of phony driver's licenses since he has to show proof of who he says he is and where he says he is living. So far, he has used three banks. And you know that he has to have money to put in the bank to open an account.

This is a real ball scratcher, John mumbled out loud.

Is there anything else you can give us to help you out? Who is your counterpart at Riverside County Sheriff's Office? I think we need to touch base with him also before we go to the other towns he has hit lately, Patrick said.

Aren't you a member of the Kern County Sheriff's Mounted Posse, Patrick? Maybe it will help when you talk to Sheriff Stan Thompson. His lead deputy in this case is Dick Sullivan.

Just as they stood up to leave, John mentioned Janet's idea of working undercover if they could nail down the location of the check writer.

Small said he would run it by his chief and the chief of detectives and would let Paul know.

They shook hands and left the building, with John saying goodbye to the pretty receptionist. Patrick looked at him and told him, One of these days, MJ is going to find out all the times you smile at pretty girls and kick your rear end out of the house.

Nope, never gonna happen. Not unless someone tells her. They got into the car and left to see Sheriff Thompson for more information.

3

While John and Patrick were on their way to see Sheriff Thompson, the paperhanger was looking at his clothes, trying to decide what to wear next. His name was Scott Thayer, a self-made multimillionaire who had enjoyed giving thousands of dollars to charities but grew tired of all the goody-goody news articles about him. He wanted a challenge, and so far, for five years, he had beaten the odds in his latest efforts—being the notorious paperhanger.

Oh, he entertained some of the wealthiest citizens of Riverside–San Bernardino counties and surrounding areas. He and his wife, Stephanie, had been known to give lavish parties that would start in the late afternoon and last all night sometimes. Afterall, they had seven bedrooms, besides their master bedroom.

Their kitchen was a gourmet cook's delight, and their party chef had begun as a cook in the Air Force, where he was selected to attend the Culinary Institute of America. From there he was chosen to be a cook for the Air Force chief of staff. Upon his discharge, he then went to Paris, France, to learn international cooking. Upon his return to the USA, he found out that Thayer was looking for a top-notch cook. He applied and was given the job on the spot. He knew nothing of his boss's activities of writing worthless checks.

*****

Scott talked to his wife, who was in the bedroom. Honey, let's take a trip. Someplace we have not been to in a while. Where would you like to go?

Stephanie looked at him and said, Las Vegas, we have not been there lately. We could stay at the Grand for two weeks? The suites and the facilities are great while you run the tables.

I'll call and make the reservation for a two-week stay. I am sure we can convince them to let us stay there for the two weeks and not have to move to other rooms. I mean, look at how many times we have stayed there.

Scott, which checking account will you use? I don't think you should use one of the phony accounts out of state. Let's use the real one for the trip.

Scott agreed with her and called the MGM Grand. He reserved a suite for two weeks as it was not reserved yet. He also asked that a bottle of their best champagne be chilled in the room by the time they arrived on Friday afternoon.

He went into his safe and pulled out six checkbooks, five of which had the minimum balance in the account. Whenever he received notice a check had bounced, he immediately deposited the money plus a few dollars more to cover the cost of the check. Not only was he devious with his disguises, but he was also shrewd enough to use banks in and out of Riverside with return addresses of a post office box in the same town as the bank.

With us taking two weeks off, it will throw them off the trail. It will confuse them, he told his wife.

One of these days, a sharp investigator will find us, and we will lose everything. The house, our money, our freedom—everything. I still do not know why you enjoy doing this. Especially when you go to a police department and claim you have a fine you need to pay for. That is stretching your luck, hon.

"I have had fun, and if I get caught, so be it. My lawyer knows that if something happens to me, all the money I have goes to the local