MONROE COUNTY, Ind. – Police arrested an Ohio woman accused of defrauding a credit union out of thousands of dollars following a multi-county pursuit on Tuesday.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to Crane Federal Credit Union on Jonathan Drive just before 4 p.m. Tuesday after an employee reported a possible fraud. The worker said a woman came into the lobby claiming to be a credit union member and used a false driver’s license.
Investigators determined that a woman matching the suspect’s description presented the same false identification at Crane Credit Union locations in Plainfield and Franklin on the same afternoon, withdrawing a total of $25,000.
Deputies learned the woman, who wore a bright yellow shirt, left the credit union in a white SUV and headed north on N. Curry Road. Deputies saw a vehicle matching the description shortly after that. The driver was wearing a yellow shirt, police said.
Deputies attempted to stop the driver on Vernal Pike, but she didn’t pull over. Instead, she sped up, leading to a pursuit that headed north on I-69.
Police followed the SUV, a white Chevy Equinox that turned out to be a rental vehicle, on I-69. But the woman hit speeds of up to 120 mph and drove erratically on the interstate, swerving from shoulder to shoulder and darting in between vehicles to put distance between herself and police.
Due to heavier traffic and the woman’s erratic driving, Monroe County deputies terminated the pursuit.
Not long after that, deputies with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office spotted the Equinox and restarted the pursuit near Liberty Church Road on I-69. The high-speed chase eventually ended near I-69 and I-465 after a successful PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver from a Bargersville Police Department vehicle.
During their search of the Equinox, investigators found $3,944 in cash and several false ID cards. The woman, later identified as Mary Misener, an Ohio resident, was taken to the Morgan County Jail on preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, reckless driving, identity deception and leaving the scene of an accident.
Misener also faces several counts in Monroe County, including fraud, identity deception, resisting law enforcement, possession of false government ID and reckless driving.
The case remains under investigation.