The forgery artist

A serial forgery artist with a 20-year rap sheet allegedly tried, after being released on probation, to buy two Waikiki jewelry kiosks last year with more than $60,000 in bogus checks drawn from an Oahu Community Correctional Center inmate trust account.

An Oahu grand jury indicted Denise K. Foster Tuesday for allegedly buying an additional $80,000 worth of goods and services with fake checks. Foster is in custody with bail set at $150,000 for the case involving the kiosks, and bail set separately at another $150,000 on the latest indictment.

During a one-month criminal shopping spree that included trying to buy the business kiosks, new charges allege she also wrote fake checks for everything from buying cars and purchasing another business, to paying off a loan, said Keith Seto, deputy city prosecutor.

Foster, 41, who legally changed her name from Godwyn K. Foster, was indicted for first-degree theft and 19 counts of second-degree forgery.

She is accused of issuing fake Bank of Hawaii checks with the account number of the OCCC inmate trust account.

The inmate trust account is the fund from which inmates draw money to spend in the prison commissary for authorized goods. An inmate can use the fund to draw money deposited into the account by relatives, and money earned working jobs inside the facility.

Foster has 36 state felony convictions over the past 20 years.

"The new allegations are disturbing in that they appear to reflect a failure in the criminal justice system to deter further crimes of this nature," said Chris Van Marter, the deputy city prosecutor handling the latest cases.

According to the indictment, Foster issued 19 bogus checks between July 25 and Aug. 21 while on probation for two 2007 convictions.

One of the 2007 cases was for first-degree theft, second-degree theft and three counts of second-degree forgery. The second was for second-degree forgery, second-degree identity theft and unauthorized possession of confidential personal information for signing a stolen personal check to make a $7,600 deposit for cosmetic surgery.

Foster was sentenced in September 2008to five years of probation but was ordered to serve the first 18 months of it behind bars. She was released from custody after serving just 16 months in December 2009 because of a terminal illness involving a close family member.

Her alleged shopping spree using bogus checks drawn from the OCCC account began in July.

The checks included:

» $10,000 to a bail bond company in a failed attempt to get two inmates out of OCCC.

» $20,000 to the Lokahi Giving Project.

» $20,000 to the Pearl Harbor Federal Credit Union to pay off a car loan and $10,000 to purchase a business that sells smoothies from a kiosk at Pearlridge Center.

They also include checks of smaller amounts including $107.40 to McKinley Car Wash, $82.88 to Papa John’s Pizza and $42.38 to Payless ShoeSource.

State Public Safety spokes­woman Toni Schwartz said Bank of Hawaii has refunded the inmate trust account any money it disbursed to cover the bogus checks.

Charges are still pending against Foster for allegedly purchasing more cars, businesses and breast implants with phony checks.

Authorities said Foster got the trust account number from a check the state issued to her for the remaining balance in her account when she was released from OCCC on probation.

Police arrested Foster Aug. 21 when she issued one check for $26,000 and another for $35,000 to buy two Waikiki jewelry business kiosks that had been advertised for sale on Craigs­list. She has been in custody at OCCC since her arrest, unable to post $150,000 bail.

Foster’s criminal record dates back more than 20 years.

In June 1991 a state judge sentenced Foster to five years of probation for second-degree theft, attempted second-degree theft and two counts of second-degree forgery. That sentence was later changed to a five-year prison term after Foster violated probation by committing other crimes.

Foster received another five-year term of probation in June 1992 for three counts of auto theft that also was later changed to five years in prison.

In January and February 1993, Foster was sentenced to two five-year prison terms for credit card fraud and second-degree theft in one case and second-degree theft and four counts of second-degree forgery in the other.

Foster received another five-year prison term in December 1996 for third-degree theft, credit card theft, three counts of second-degree theft and six counts of second-degree forgery.

In 2002 she was sentenced to yet another five-year prison term for first-degree theft, second-degree theft and three counts of second-degree forgery.