Oregon police hunt ‘military mistress’ on check fraud charges

(Reuters) - An Oregon woman dubbed the "military mistress" by authorities for marrying at least 14 U.S. servicemen and bilking some of them out of their money was being sought by police on Wednesday in connection with a check fraud scheme. Bobbi Ann Finley, 39, also known as Bobbi Ann House, was being sought by Oregon authorities for questioning over some $13,500 in fraudulent checks written in Oregon, Colorado and Oklahoma, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office. Finley and her current husband, Zackerie House, 27, began writing the checks in March on a recently opened Well Fargo bank account, the sheriff's office said in a statement. Finley has married at least 14 times and mothered nine children with as many men, law enforcement officials said. She found her husbands at military bases across the country and has been accused by former spouses in nine states of stealing thousands of dollars of their money, officials said. In 2011 she was convicted in Alabama on a felony count of theft by deception and was arrested in Washington state in 2013 on a theft charge. In 2007 she served an eight-month sentence for forging checks on the account of a husband she met in Texas. In 2011, Finley gave an interview to ABC News in which she admitted to marrying and running from multiple men, but denied it was a con. "In many of the cases, you look and you started out and you get married and you're thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to live happily ever after.' And then you realize as soon it's done ... it was a mistake," she said. The checks Finley and House were accused of writing have been used to purchase outdoor gear and camping equipment, the Oregonian newspaper reported, citing the Marion County Sheriff's Office. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in Seattle; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Eric Beech)