Police say woman stole, forged checks after New Kensington man suffered stroke
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New Kensington police accused a woman of stealing blank checks from her neighbor and forging his name to cash them during the weeks after he suffered a stroke.
Shanna Rachelle Heymers, 41, of the 2500 block of Virginia Drive in New Kensington, was charged with two felony counts of forgery and eight other charges that include identity theft, theft and receiving stolen property.
She faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Frank Pallone Jr. on Feb. 17.
Police began investigating after the man’s daughter traveled from Hawaii to help her father, who suffered a stroke on June 16. She called police when she discovered the door of his home partially open when she arrived, according to a criminal complaint filed on the case.
She told police that his neighbor cleans the home and is the only person with access, the complaint said.
The woman said a keepsake badge her father received from a retired Westmoreland County deputy sheriff was missing from his wallet, along with the key to a safe deposit box that was kept in a jewelry box, according to the complaint.
The woman, who has power of attorney for her father’s estate, also told police that the balance of his checking account was lower than she expected it to be, police said.
The bank identified two checks — one for $250 cashed on June 28 and another for $275 cashed the following day — that appeared to be fraudulent, the complaint said.
Police said the handwriting did not appear to match the man’s handwriting and his first name was spelled wrong in the signatures.
The checks also indicated that they were made to pay for rent even though the man owns his home, according to the complaint.
On Sept. 10 police obtained a search warrant for security video from the PNC Bank branch in New Kensington that shows a woman cashing the checks, the complaint said.
Police said the woman seen in the video had a distinctive tattoo on her arm that matched the one they saw on Heymers’ arm when she was taken into custody Dec. 10 on outstanding arrest warrants out of Allegheny and Armstrong counties.
Heymers declined to speak with police after she was arrested, according to her arrest papers.