Former Washington Pageant Queen Accused of Stolen Check Forgery

A 39-year-old woman's bail was set at $15,000 for allegedly trying to cash a check at the Fiesta Foods in Yakima.

  The dailysunnynews.com reports Cecilia Marie Armendariz was arrested after a store employee recognized her. The worker said he had seen her picture on the Yakima County Crime Stoppers website, and a check of video surveillance in the store confirmed her identity.

She is accused of stealing business checks that she got from a Yakima business mailbox, and tried to forge one for $850. The worker identified her because he remembered in 1994 she was crowned Miss Latina Washington at an event in Sunnyside.

Since then, she's apparently had a number of brushes with the law. The dailysunnynews reports she was charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree possession of stolen property taken from a Grandview home she allegedly broke into.

Previous records online show she had a theft charge dismissed in January, 2016.