A traffic stop ended with a 79-year-old Indiana woman’s arrest in a check-deception case dating to 2006. The allegation involves a $37 check that a couple said she wrote to buy gasoline, according to WSBT’s November 7 report.
Judith Lynn Michael, of Rochester, was pulled over in Warsaw on Tuesday evening, November 3. The officer discovered an outstanding arrest warrant from Montgomery County, the station reported.
Michael spent the night in jail in Warsaw before being transported to Crawfordsville. A booking list published by InkFreeNews on November 5 independently records her November 3 detention on a warrant.
The MyCase case summary shows that the case was filed in Montgomery Superior Court 2 on March 21, 2006. It also records a new arrest-warrant order signed July 24, 2026, months before the traffic stop.
Court Records Trace the Case Back to March 2006
The register identifies case 54D02-0603-CM-001546 as a Class A misdemeanor check-deception prosecution under former Indiana Code 35-43-5-5. Its early entries record the filing of a charging information, a probable-cause affidavit and a motion for a summons.
The court scheduled an initial hearing for April 17, 2006, but the entry for that date says, “Court finds no service on defendant.” On May 23, the court found probable cause and granted the state’s request for an arrest warrant, setting a $500 cash bond.
A New Arrest Warrant Was Issued in July 2026
An annotation in the earlier warrant entry says it was returned expired on January 18, 2007. On March 15, 2007, the court granted a motion to reissue the warrant, again with a $500 cash bond.
On July 24, 2026, Judge Daniel G. Petrie signed another arrest-warrant order listing a $500 cash bond. The register then records the warrant as returned served on November 5, two days after the reported Warsaw arrest.
The November 5 entries also include a cash-bond agreement filing. MyCase listed the case as pending when checked November 8.