October 28, 2003: Police say 25-year-old Kathyln Datoc fraudulently cashes a check at the First Hawaiian Bank on Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe for nearly $500.

Police say Datoc conned an elderly woman at Kinaole Estates Ltd. in Kailua, telling the woman to write her a blank check so she could go pick up her dry cleaning - dry cleaning that was supposed to cost about $15. Datoc would instead pay her rent with it to the tune of $498.

"Datoc goes back three days later and says, 'You need more dry cleaning,' grabs a whole other bunch of clothes and writes another check and signs it," explained Sgt. Kim Buffett of CrimeStoppers.

This time, police say she writes out the check for $4,000. Police say Datoc sent her mother to the First Hawaiian Bank on Kaneohe Bay Drive, where a bank teller showed the true meaning and significance of knowing your customer.

"The teller knows the victim (and thinks) you know this amount is really strange, she doesn't usually write checks for this amount," Buffett said. "So they called and they discovered she wrote another and really and find out the $498 written thinking it was only $15 also."

Datoc is arrested in January of 2004 and convicted of two felony theft counts. But while out on probation, Datoc went on the run.

"This person here has taken advantage of our elderly and we need to catch her," Buffett said. "She does have a probation revocation warrant out for $10,000, meaning that she was arrested, she got probation and in this case, probably failed to check in with her probation officer, so there is a warrant for her arrest."

Datoc is described as a Filipino woman, about five feet tall, weighing 225 pounds. She has no known tattoos and no other criminal history.

Police are worried she may be scamming someone else while on the run.

Datoc is known to frequent the Waipahu and Windward side of the island. Helping police catch her could put up to $1,000 in your pocket.

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