COVINGTON – The Newton County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a local female resident and charged her with forgery after she allegedly forged a {criminal background and records check report and submitted it to a potential employer.

Carmen Neal, 44, of 10618 Magnolia Heights Drive faces two counts of forgery associated with the incident.

According to NCSO Public Information Officer Deputy Cortney Morrison, the woman had sought employment at a local child care facility, however when the employer saw the criminal background check report, he became suspicious.

“He said it looked to be fraudulent to him because he’s dealt with many criminal histories in the past and it didn’t look like one he’s normally seen,” Morrison said. “He said Neal had given him a criminal history check that said ‘no record.'”

When the criminal records that the woman had provided to the employer was faxed to the sheriff’s office, it turned out that not only had the document been altered, but the admin tech’s signature had also been forged.

At that point, the Criminal Investigation Division took on the case and investigators visited Neal’s house to question her.

“The investigators saw evidence there in plain view that they were able to gather that was incriminating,” Morrison said. The woman was promptly arrested and charged with two counts of forgery.