A a 37-year-old Edgewater man, Charles Daniel Connors, was found guilty by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court jury of theft between $10,000 and $100,000, as well as 50 more counts related to a check forgery scheme, said Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Wes Adams.
"Mr. Connors commited the kind of crime that could happen to anyone, and each and every time he forged and cashed one of those 17 stolen checks, he re-victimized the homeowner," said Adams. "This was an egregious abuse of the victim's trust and deserved to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The investigation stemmed from a Dec. 28, 2016 report of check fraud. A victim informed police that he had hired Connors as a handyman, and that Connors was permitted to to go inside the house unattended. The victim then noticed a large discrepancy in his account, and after contacting his bank, he was informed 17 checks written to Connors were cashed, valuing $16,370 in total.
Connors was convicted after a two-day trial. Beyond the theft charge, Connors faced 16 counts of counterfeiting a private document, 17 counts of possession of a counterfeit document, and 17 counts of issuing a counterfeit document. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
