Trio arrested for passing bad traveler’s checks in Salem

SALEM – An alert worker at the Red Lion Smoke Shop on Washington Street in Salem quite possibly saved his fellow area business owners from losing money Thursday when he trapped three people in his store for attempting to cash bad traveler’s checks.At least three other businesses in the downtown area had reported receiving fake American Express traveler’s checks, all worth $500, earlier in the day. The assailants would enter the store and purchase something around $100, and pay with the checks, receiving cash back in return.Police say that the owner of Red Lion, Michael Allen, called to report a bad check just before 9 p.m. on Thursday, and aware of the recent trend at other businesses in the area, he alertly locked the doors while the individuals were still in the store.According to police reports, 29-year-old Marie A. Pramataris of 49 Essex St. told officers that she attempted to use one of the fake $500 checks to purchase a pack of cigarettes at the smoke shop, but she had received them from her father living in Oklahoma, and was not aware that they weren’t real.Earlier that day, police received reports from Rockafella’s Restaurant on Washington Street, Coon’s Card Shop on Essex Street and a Touch of the Past, also on Washington Street. All three businesses are within one block of one another.After the third report, police sent out a reverse 9-11 to all area businesses informing them of the scam, and warning shop owners to obtain as much information as possible about the person using it before accepting the check. Allen went one step further; locking the doors to his business to make sure the suspects were apprehended.After some questioning by police, Pramataris admitted to using the check at Rockafella’s, at which point officers arrested her and the two people she was shopping with, her sister, Alycia Lessor and her boyfriend Cote Boulay. Police did not release personal information on Lessor or Boulay.While Pramataris admitted to using the checks, all three face the same charges of two counts each of uttering false information, two counts each of conspiracy and two counts each of possession of a counterfeit traveler’s check.Later that day, the owner of Samantha’s Costume Shop, also on Essex Street, called police to report another false check that had been passed prior to the trio’s arrest.