Mom took out student loans to gamble

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Police: Mom took out student loans to gamble
Friday, April 3, 2009 | 8:55 a.m. CDT
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PETERS — A suburban St. Louis woman is accused of taking out student loans totaling $139,000 in her daughters' names and gambling it away.

Police say Cynthia Tiemann of St. Peters has been charged with seven counts of forgery and is due in St. Charles County court on Monday. She's accused of forging seven student-loan checks that she applied for in two of her daughters' names.

Officer Melissa Doss said Tiemann also forged her 71-year-old mother's information on the loans because she needed a co-signer. Doss said Tiemann "had a gambling addiction and had gambled away about $139,000 in student loans."

The forgeries came to light when one of the young women pulled her credit report and discovered that the student loans were taken out in her name.

The loans weren't discovered for nearly a year and a half.