Inez Lambert says the forged checks were for charity after the handwriting match corners her.
1. Dragnet - Old Time Radio's Big Grandma centers on a Los Angeles forgery detail case about a woman who has worked the same scam for nine years.
2. Jack Webb frames the program as Sgt. Friday, with Ben Romero, Captain Elliot, Ferguson, Besser, and handwriting examiner Don Meyer carrying the investigation.
3. The episode asks how detectives catch a middle-aged check forger who works only three months a year and has already passed 1,273 checks worth more than $22,000.
4. Ferguson says the suspect uses personal checks, never writes them for less than $2 or more than $100, and changes aliases constantly.
5. The file lists more than 200 different names, while victims from the beach area to the valley give different descriptions of the same woman.
6. Friday notes that the bogus checks usually reach the bank three or four days after cashing, which leaves the trail cold.
7. The team responds with citywide merchant warnings, revised descriptions, and doubled stakeouts in business districts.
8. Even with those precautions, Grandma keeps cashing two or three checks a day until the end of April.
9. On October 1, a downtown women's shop cashes a $75 check signed Mary Walker and backed by a metal charge account plate.
10. A second Mary Walker check appears in another department of the same store, and Don Meyer says both signatures match Grandma's handwriting.
11. Friday and Romero then visit Mrs. Mary Walker in the Wilshire District, where she says her charge plate disappeared after a Neighborhood Boosters Club meeting.
12. The club attendance book gives the detectives a new name, Inez Lambert, because the 32nd signature on the list matches the forged writing.
13. Lambert has no criminal record, but she is active in civic and church groups and donates an average of $3,000 a year to charity.
14. Her husband's annual income is $7,000, so the donations become the financial contradiction that keeps the case alive.
15. Bank specimens of Lambert's handwriting line up almost perfectly with the Grandma file.
16. The final interview is set in Lambert's kitchen, where cream sauce and pinch pie keep her busy while Friday presses the issue.
17. The dialogue stays clipped and procedural, with Friday treating the kitchen scene like another interview room.
18. Jack Webb's narration and the sponsor breaks keep the episode in a measured radio-drama cadence.
19. Listeners who like classic police procedure, handwriting comparisons, and old-time radio craft will get the most from it.
20. Listeners who want modern sound design or fast emotional payoff may skip it.
