After reading what probably amounts to thousands of identity theft stories and hundreds of studies on the same subject, there’s nothing like a good stupid criminal story to break the monotony. Those are stories I can write about with a smile on my face.

Barbara Glass has been with the Portland Police Bureau in Oregon for almost 20 years, and for the past eight she been the Bureau’s resident expert on identity theft and fraud investigations.

Imagine Officer Glass’s surprise when, in the midst of an investigation into a major counterfeit check ring, she received an email from a local Safeway grocery store alerting her that her own name showed up on one of the bad checks they’d received.

According to the Safeway email, Glass’s full name was handwritten on a check for $314.97 that was cashed on April 16.

That’s right: The counterfeiters were stupid enough to use a cop’s name—a fraud investigator’s name, no less—on a bogus check. And, apparently they got such a giggle out of doing that, they also used the East Precinct address where Glass works as the address for their fake business, Swept Up Cleaning Company.

Naturally, the nitwit crooks got busted. Police arrested Marcus Wilson, 27, and Carry Pepin, 33, on probation violations. A third suspect, Rachelle Ross, 35, was accused of identity theft when it was determined that she was most likely the one who posed as Glass to pass the faked check.

Stupid criminals … you gotta love ‘em.