N. Strabane police issue warrants for check thefts
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North Strabane Township police have obtained arrest warrants for three Pittsburgh men accused of stealing checks from a township business earlier this month and then making their own checks that they cashed.
Charged with theft, theft by deception and writing bad checks were Joseph T. Hoffman, 33, Gary L. Boyd, 29, and Brad Lee Cuspard, 39, all of Pittsburgh.
Checks were stolen from the outgoing mail at Meadowlands Gymnastic Training Center, 345 Meadowlands Boulevard, Meadowlands Industrial Park, May 16. Cecil Township police also have obtained a warrant for Hoffman on charges of bad checks and forgery.
Duplicate checks were made with the same account information and the gym’s logo, and cashed the following day. The owner of the gym was checking the account at Community Bank online when she discovered checks had been cashed.
Detective John Wybranowski said the theft fits a pattern of similar crimes reported in Western Pennsylvania and other areas.
“People come in from out of town,” Wybranowski said. “They steal mail from boxes located in industrial parks, hoping to get checks that were being mailed to pay vendors. Then they create their own checks.
“Then they employ homeless people to cash the checks. The checks are made out to them, and they use their own driver’s license as identification,” he added. “They usually go to the bank where the account is located so the teller can validate there is enough money in the account.”
Wybranowski said bank surveillance video and the driver’s license information obtained when the checks were cashed helped identify the suspects. Checks were cashed at Community Bank branches in McMurray and Brookline in Allegheny County.
He said stock for blank checks is available at office supply stores.
Cecil police Detective Mark Marcucci said the forged checks were from LP, a subsidiary of Herizon Properties at Southpointe II.
“At this point, I don’t know how he got the checks, but he made copies of them,” Marcucci said Thursday. “He is clearly seen cashing two checks at a First Niagara bank.”
Marcucci said each check was made out for $2,671.
Hoffman had been in the Allegheny County jail after his arrest last week on charges of bad checks and forgery, but court records indicate he was released Wednesday on $10,000 unsecured bond. Pittsburgh and Moon Township police also have charged him with theft, forgery and bad checks. Wybranowski said Hoffman appears to be the ringleader.