Feb 10, 2015 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – A Waynesburg woman who was sentenced multiple times for the same two cases involving forged checks will serve 24 months in the state intermediate punishment program followed by five years of probation. The SIPP involves intensive drug and alcohol treatment in addition to a period of incarceration in a state prison.

Nichole Whitney Cargill, 20, of 340 E. Lincoln St., Apt. 1, was arrested Dec. 6, 2012, and again on March 1, 2013. She pleaded guilty Aug. 5, 2013, to two counts of forgery, and single counts of criminal conspiracy to commit forgery, theft by deception, criminal conspiracy to commit theft and theft by deception.

She was sentenced Oct. 23, 2013, to five years of probation for the Dec. 6, 2012, arrest and seven years of probation for the March 1, 2013, arrest. On April 8, 2014, Cargill admitted violating her sentence. She received a new sentence of 30 days in jail, followed by 30 days’ house arrest.

On June 2, 2014, Cargill was found to have again violated the terms of her sentencing. She received a new sentence of 90 days in jail.

In August and again in September 2014, Cargill was found to be using drugs resulting in yet another revocation of her previous sentence that led the court to consider SIPP, a program aimed at recidivism reduction.

SIPP consists of four phases over the 24 months. Phase one involves confinement of no less than seven months in a state correctional institution with at least four months of that time spent as part of an in-house drug and alcohol treatment program. Phase two is served as two months in a community-based treatment program. Phase three includes six months of outpatient addiction treatment in either a community corrections center or approved transitional housing. The fourth and final phase involves department of corrections’ supervised reintegration into the community for the balance of the 24 months.

In the 2012 incident, Cargill and her boyfriend, Alex David Wood, 22, of Holbrook, were identified as having cashed an altered check in the amount of $145.25 at the Community Bank in Rogersville. The check was drawn on the account of Cargill’s grandparents with whom the couple was living at 162 Hoovers Run Road in Holbrook.

Court records indicate Cargill said the pair used the money to purchase heroin from a Waynesburg drug dealer twice that day. After each purchase, they pulled over and shot up the heroin while their infant child was in the back seat of the vehicle, according to a statement Cargill gave to police.

A Community Bank employee told police Wood presented the check, made out to him, at the drive-thru window. Police said the teller told them Cargill was in the passenger seat and an infant, later identified as the couple’s child, was in a car seat in the back.

Wood told police Cargill asked him to cash the check because she did not have identification. He said he signed the back without looking at the front of the check, unaware it was forged. Police said Wood told them Cargill then used the money to purchase heroin from a Waynesburg drug dealer.

Cargill placed the blame for the forged check on Wood, claiming she was initially unaware the check was one from her grandparents’ account. She told police she caught a glimpse of the check front before Wood gave it to the teller but it was too late to do anything.

Wood was charged with forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, theft by deception, and receiving stolen property. Wood pleaded no contest to the charges and received a sentence Aug. 5, 2013, of 18 months of probation. He, too, was found to have violated the terms of his sentence and was resentenced on Nov. 20, 2014, to serve 180 days in jail with credit for 66 days already served. Wood concluded his sentence and was released from Greene County jail Dec. 31, 2014.

Original charges filed in the case by state police of endangering the welfare of children against Wood and Cargill were dropped at the lower court level.

In her later arrest, which occurred March 1, 2013, Cargill cashed a check Feb. 28, 2013, at Buddy’s bar in west Waynesburg. It was written on a check stolen from Harry Kelly, Sr. of 735 Race St., Waynesburg. Kelly told police three checks were stolen from his checkbook in mid-January when Cargill was visiting his residence.

In both cases, Cargill was ordered to pay restitution to the victims.