46 year-old Shawn Lee Evans is in the Missoula County Jail charged with felony forgery and theft charges after allegedly stealing and washing checks, forging his name and cashing them.

Deputy Missoula County Attorney Selene Koepke asked Judge Linlee Holloway for $20,000 bail.

"He allegedly stole checks out of mailboxes, washing them and cashing them for hundreds of dollars for his own personal use and to support his meth addiction," Koepke said. "He does have a fairly lengthy criminal history starting back in 1999 with various convictions in several states, including Oklahoma, California, and Washington. Here in Montana, he has a 2015 sexual assault conviction, theft, obstructing justice, violations of an order of protection and another obstructing conviction in 2016."

Koepke said Evans simply has no respect for the justice system.

"We believe that the defendant's criminal history shows he has zero regard for the law or court orders based on his failures to appear, and many of these offenses were committed while serving previous suspended sentences," she said. "The state is also researching as to whether Mr. Evans would be a persistent felony offender, so we do believe the $20,000 bail amount is in order,"

Judge Holloway agreed and set bail for Evans at $20,000.

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