Three charged with forging checks

PALMER -- Last fall, a Palmer man reported to Wasilla police that several checks from two bank accounts were showing up forged after the accounts had been closed for nine years.

John Otcheck Sr., had closed a joint checking account at Denali Federal Credit Union in 1993. He also closed one at the Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union around the same time, after his wife had passed away and he needed to remove her name from the accounts, he said.

A cabin the couple owned at Willow was used to store a few boxes, one containing the checkbooks. Otcheck said he forgot the checkbooks were among the stored items. Then, last year, someone broke into the cabin and stole the checks.

Charging documents state that between August 2001 and January 2002, eight checks from the account, ranging from $499 to $1,500, were deposited to various bank accounts around the Valley. Some $3,600 in checks made payable to William Patrick, 20, and Anita Leonard, 21, resulted in both being charged with second-degree theft and second-degree forgery. Jordan Olmsted, 20, also faces the same charges in the case, which involved about $7,600.

Two checks in August were made out to a fourth person and deposited into his account at MVFCU. Both were drawn on Otcheck's closed Denali Federal Credit Union account. On Sept. 17, Otcheck showed the investigator, Wasilla police officer Robert Dixon, five more forged checks made out to Leonard and Patrick.

Otcheck contacted police after four Valley banks initially contacted him about the checks drawn on his closed accounts. Dixon worked with the banks to sort out the forgeries, and the three suspects were charged April 15.

"At first I was in shock. The banks called and told me about the checks showing up, so I went in and filled out forgery paperwork," Otcheck said Tuesday. "On one of the checks, someone had forged my wife's signature. At first I thought it was just a few checks but more kept cropping up."

Otcheck said one of the checks was used at a garage sale. "I feel badly for the individuals that got ripped off in this," he said.

In January, another rash of forged checks showed up at the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, two for $1,000 to be paid to Jordan Olmsted. One of the $1,000 checks was returned to Olmsted's address uncashed.

In a police interview, Leonard allegedly told Wasilla police that she received the checks from Olmsted. Olmsted allegedly proposed a deal where the checks were deposited into the accounts and then cash could be withdrawn. In return, Leonard said she and Patrick had to pay Olmsted $150 cash for each check.

According to court records, Leonard told police that all but one check given to her was already signed by Olmsted. She acknowledged that she does not know Otcheck.

All three suspects were scheduled for a preliminary hearing yesterday.