Landlord cleaning Oxford rental discovers items used to make fraudulent checks

Credit: Submitted

Credit: Submitted

OXFORD — A tenant evicted from an apartment in the Miami Preserve complex left behind a box of items which could be used to produce fraudulent checks — and may be connected to such a case from several months ago.

Police were called to the complex July 1 by the property manager, who said she had found a box of items left behind when the tenant was evicted June 29.

The responding officer was shown to the apartment and shown the box, which contained a large number of cards and checks. She had discovered the box when she went to the apartment to clean it in preparation for a new tenant moving in and thought police should look at it before it was removed.

In the box, the officer allegedly found blank check paper stock, what appeared to be a fraudulent check made out to an uncharged suspect, printed instructions on how to print checks, numerous photo copies of various driver’s licenses and a printer being used to print the fake checks.

The manager confirmed the uncharged suspect is the name of the resident evicted two days earlier. The officer recognized the name from a previous report which involved a check-cashing scheme a former Miami University student had confessed being a part of. That report involved LCNB, where a branch manager called police after the student had confessed his involvement.

Officers had spoken with him at that time but he would not name others who had been involved.

LCNB agreed to let the student reimburse the $5,000 they were out and not press charges. The officer recalled observing a cash app transaction at that time listing the name of the uncharged suspect in this new report.

The officer called a sergeant, who summoned detectives to the scene of the apartment to take photos and collect the found property. The apartment manager completed a statement for the report, which noted it is unknown if a criminal offense has occurred or if there are any current victims.

Source: Oxford Police Department reports

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