OXFORD – On Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, at approximately 10:26 a.m., Oxford Police Officer Heather Picking said she was dispatched to the lobby of the police station to speak with a woman in her 20s in regards to an ongoing issue.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narratives of Officer Heather Picking and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
“I spoke with the female party…in the interview room next to the police lobby,” Officer Picking said. “[She] explained how her mother has been forging and cashing her checks and taking her money. [The reporting party] stated that she just came back from Dudley District Court, where they found her mother guilty, and needs to pay her back.”
Officer Picking said the reporting party said that while she was in court, she mentioned that she found four additional checks that her mother, Debra Vanbeekom, had allegedly forged and cashed.
According to police, Debra A. Vanbeekom, 49, is a resident of Oxford, MA.
“During her hearing [the reporting party] was advised that those checks were not part of this particular case,” Officer Picking said. “[The reporting party] stated that she wants to be made whole since her mother stole more money from her, so that’s why she is here now reporting the additional four checks.”
The reporting party provided police with four checks, including:
- Check No. 463431: $7,470.00
- Check No. 464930: $2,382.00
- Check No. 468904: $450.00
- Check No. 471114: $642.07
“[The reporting party] stated she lives with her mother and the checks come in the mail, and her mother would sign her checks on her behalf and cash them before she would see them,” Officer Picking said. “Along with the checks [the reporting party] stated that her and her mother share a joint bank account.”
The reporting party also stated that her mother took $9,000 of her unemployment benefits.
“[She] has bank statements showing the $9,000 being deposited and then immediately being transferred into her mother’s bank account,” Officer Picking said. “[The reporting party] stated that she had no idea she even received the money, since her mother transferred the money immediately to her own account.”
Officer Picking stated that, based on the four additional checks the reporting party found, she would be seeking charges against Vanbeekom for forging the checks and larceny of funds because Vanbeekom permanently deprived the reporting party of the proceeds.
Debra A. Vanbeekom, 49, of Oxford, was charged with the following:
- Forgery of Check (four counts)
- Larceny over $1,200
Vanbeekom’s arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30, 2026, in Dudley District Court.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in August, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.
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