Dirty Laundry

Dirty Laundry

A Michael Bagwell, has been arrested, on suspicion of presenting fake dry cleaning bills to restaurant managers.

Bagwell, who used the alias Mark Laskowski, took his dry-cleaning bill to seven suburban Des Moines restaurants in Texas earlier this month.

He has been charged with theft, perjury and stealing the identity of a former Georgia jail inmate. The investigation also has spread to Illinois, Georgia and Louisiana.

Bagwell allegedly went to the Lone Star Steakhouse in the first week of June, and told the manager that his wife had been in the week before and that a waitress had spilled iced tea on her. He presented a dry cleaning bill for $25.90 and the restaurant's manager, Nicole Graham, apologized and paid the bill.

She became suspicious when Bagwell couldn't remember the zip code for his address. She then saw him go across the road, to Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que, where he asked the manager to pay the bill.

Police found 14 fake dry cleaning bills in his car, along with identification cards with Bagwell's photograph and four other names.

Police said Bagwell also told officers his name was Mark Matherne, the name of a man released from a Georgia jail in 2004. The car Bagwell was driving was registered to an Illinois woman, who officers couldn't find, police said.

Trial is scheduled for the end of July.