Rankin man jailed in check-cashing scheme
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A Rankin man implicated in a check-cashing scheme was arrested Friday morning, more than six months after Chartiers Township police filed charges.
James D. Gibson, 35, was charged Friday with three counts each of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, forgery and conspiracy.
District Judge David Mark arraigned Gibson, who was taken to Washington County jail on $50,000 bond.
Police accused Gibson and Joseph T. Hoffman, 34, of Pittsburgh, of stealing checks sent by Ellis Asphalt at 580 Plum Run Road in Chartiers Township to a company in Allegheny County. Three checks worth a combined $10,656 were duplicated after they were stolen from the company’s mailbox.
Investigators said checks apparently were stolen from mailboxes of multiple companies in industrial parks and duplicated, and then homeless people were enlisted to cash them.
Hoffman, who already was facing other charges out of Cecil and North Strabane townships, was charged in June with the most recent scheme. Hoffman has since pleaded guilty to theft, conspiracy and three counts of forgery in multiple cases and was sentenced to serve three years in prison.