And now the rest of the story

OK, so here is my rebuttal and clarification of the FACTS in the FBI story.
1. I didn't "forget" about the check. When Arlene called me, I thought she said that a woman called saying that she had a $1oK check written out TO US, which is a very typical scam technique (I get emails regularly telling me I have a check for over a million dollars sitting in some foreign country).
2. As soon as I talked to the woman and she said she had a check I HAD WRITTEN out for $10K, I immediately knew what check she was talking about. Last fall semester (a year ago) in my mission prep class, I asked who could use a check to cover their entire mission expenses. I made out a check to the first student who raised his hand, then I had a different student sign the check using his own name and signature.
3. The purpose for the whole thing was as a lead-in for a discussion on priesthood authority and the concept of "power of attorney:" that missionaries (and all other priesthood holders) have real power to bind God into a covenant relationship with others. My check to the students was non-binding because the signer had NO AUTHORITY to sign and thus bind ME into an obligation to pay, any more than a Baptist minister can bind God into a covenant with one of his parishoners.
4. Because the check was signed by the other student (something I very deliberately did) I knew that there was NO WAY that I would lose $10K [if I had such a sum in the bank - which I DON'T], because I never signed the check.
5. Finally, even if I did have $10K in the bank and the check was indeed cashed, the bank would be liable to reimburse me the money since without MY signature (which COULD NOT BE FORGED, since I made sure there was a clearly different name and signature on the check) the check was NOT a legal financial instrument.

All that having been said, I should not have let the student keep the check on the off chance that a year laterit would fall out of his scriptures, be found by a student, and cause my poor beloved wife to call the FBI!