Hewankorn will be tried for stealing checkbooks

Ashley Rae Hewankorn was arraigned on four counts of felony burglary Sept. 9, seven months after the Lake County Prosecuting Attorney’s office filed formal paperwork in her case and nearly two years after the alleged crime occurred, according to a Lake County Court affidavit.

Hewankorn, whose jury trial is set for Feb. 16, 2016, spent much of those seven months, however, interacting with law enforcement in other ways.

According to Lake County Court records, Hewankorn was arrested by Tribal police in February on undisclosed and unrelated charges. 

In March she was seen attempting to pass a bad check at a Ronan business, court records said. Hewankorn’s plan was thwarted, however, after the clerk recognized Hewankorn and knew the check she was trying to pass was fraudulent. 

The bogus checkbook was reported stolen from a local residence when a perpetrator broke into the house through a back window, records said.

Records show that Hewankorn was seen on Walmart and Muralts surveillance cameras attempting to pass checks from the same checkbook.

The Lake County Prosecuting Attorney’s office filed another, separate case for one count of felony burglary and two counts of felony forgery against Hewankorn in June.

Hewankorn’s trouble multiplied when she failed to appear for her required April arraignment on the 2013 charges. That earned Hewankorn a May arrest warrant, the records said.

While avoiding her September 2013 arrest arraignment, the Lake County Prosecuting attorney’s office filed a third set of paperwork. This time, the affidavit claimed that Hewankorn was in possession of methamphetamines during a Tribal warrant arrest in Polson in December 2014.

Hewankorn’s oldest accusations began on Sept. 7, 2013 after an anonymous tipster called the Crimestoppers hotline with information related to a recent burglary, according to a Lake County Court affidavit.

The informant told police that Hewankorn could be found at Pablo Foods grocery store with stolen merchandise in her car.

Responding law enforcement officers arrived on scene and found Hewankorn’s car in the parking lot, and Hewankorn fleeing from the back door, the affidavit said.

When investigators searched Hewankorn’s vehicle, they found several rifles and another woman’s checkbook in her car, the records said.

While being questioned by police, Hewankorn took responsibility for four 2013 burglaries that netted her two more checkbooks, on of which came from a relative, the records said.  

Hewankorn is scheduled for an omnibus hearing Nov. 25, 2015.