43
Mahoning sheriff probes check forgeries
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the cashing of nine forged checks bearing a Mahoning County account number at stores in the Springfield and Dayton areas, three of them appearing to be from an account controlled by the Auditor of State’s office.
All nine checks had an account and routing number belonging to the Mahoning County Auditor’s Office, said Detective Anthony Murphy of the county sheriff’s office, who is investigating the case.
“They did their best effort to make a check look like a government check,” said Maj. William Cappabianca of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office. “They’re fake,” he said of the checks.
Some of the checks had the state auditor’s logo and purported signature of State Auditor Dave Yost; some had the Mahoning County auditor’s logo and purported signature of county Auditor Ralph Meacham; and others had a fake janitorial service logo and an illegible purported authorizing signature from the janitorial service, Cappabianca said.
The stores that cashed the checks will be out the money, Murphy said.
No suspects are charged or in custody, but Murphy said he has one suspect in mind.
County Treasurer Dan Yemma alerted the sheriff’s office to the fraudulent checks a month ago, Murphy said.
The normal procedure is that the county auditor’s office issues checks, and they are cleared through the county treasurer’s office, Murphy explained.
“For the record, the [state] auditor’s office has not had check-writing authority in 10 years,” Yost said. “If anyone receives a check from our office, call law enforcement because it’s bogus,” he added.
Yost noted the irony in someone cashing forged checks under the name of the state auditor using the checking account number of a county.
“That takes guts, but not a lot of brains,” said Yost, a former county prosecutor.
The checks using the state auditor’s logo were in the amounts of $562.09, $542.93 and $548.26.
The matter was brought to the attention of the state auditor’s office by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office after the checks were cashed on the county’s account.
The checks were made out to the names of various people with addresses within and outside Ohio, Murphy said.
Meacham and Yemma could not be reached for comment.