CUMBERLAND COUNTY — A 63-year-old Etters woman is facing forgery and theft charges after police say she cashed a $17,614.93 life insurance policy check addressed to her brother by forging his signature.
Carol Jane Case, of the first block of White Dogwood Drive, then deposited the money into her own personal account and made several withdrawals from it, according to Lower Allen Township Police.
Police say they began investigating when a collections supervisor notified them about the suspected forgery on Jan. 11, according to the criminal complaint affidavit. The supervisor told police Case had signed and deposited a check made out to her brother, police say. The check was from a life insurance policy their mother had created for both siblings, but the check was addressed to Case’s brother, even though it had been made to Case’s address, police say.
The supervisor provided a copy of the check, which had been signed by both Case and her brother.
But the supervisor told police Case’s brother contacted the bank on May 1, reporting that he had never received payment from the life insurance policy, according to police. He claimed to have never received the check, police say.
When told what happened by the bank, Case’s brother allegedly informed the bank that he had never signed the check, nor did he give Case permission to cash it. He later provided an affidavit swearing to those facts, along with five samples of his signature, police say.
Comparison of the sample signatures with the signature on the check indicated that the signature on the check had “inconsistencies and appeared to be fraudulent,” police say in the complaint.
The bank froze Case’s account upon discovery of the suspected forgery, and was able to recover $15,548.13.
The remaining balance of $2,066.80 is still missing, police say.
The bank sent Case a certified letter informing her of the issue on May 2, police say. Police made several attempts to contact her by phone, the last coming on June 17, according to the complaint.
Charges were filed on August 5, according to the complaint.
