Hilltown Township Police. Photo by James Short.
Hilltown Township detectives worked alongside NYPD detectives from Queens to take down a New York man alleged to have forged nearly $8,000 in checks from a pork processing company in Blooming Glen, then depositing and transferring thousands of dollars to himself, in 2019.
Shemar Joachim, 25, of the 16000 block of 130th Avenue, Jamaica, Queens, New York, has been charged July 17, 2024 with the following felonies, each which also carry a separate felony conspiracy charge: Forgery, forgery by uttering forged writing, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, five counts of unlawful use of a computer, and five counts of felony computer trespassing to transfer funds. One felony charge of criminal use of a communication facility without a conspiracy charge was also imposed against Joachim, according to court documents. Joachim would have committed the alleged offenses at 20 years old.
Police said a representative of Eugene M. Moyer & Son, owner of Blooming Glen Pork Products, on Route 113 in Blooming Glen, Hilltown Township, reported potential check fraud to authorities on Oct. 10, 2019.
The representative told police she mailed multiple checks, written on a Univest checking account belonging to the pork company, to multiple payees on Sept. 3, 2019, and deposited them in a mail collection box inside the business office, police said.
Univest notified the company that one check was altered to be paid to “Katrina M. Kidd” for $9,780, police said, and a second check was altered to paid to “Catrina Blackman” for $9,256.44.
An NYPD detective contacted Moyer & Son on Nov. 14, 2019, and told them about a check issued on Sept. 3, 2019 from Blooming Glen Pork to the U.S. Treasury for $8,800 had been deposited into a TD Bank account via ATM in Nassau County, NY by Joachim, according to the affidavit.
Hilltown detectives phoned NYPD detectives, with the latter informing the former that authorities learned of the check belonging to Blooming Glen Pork Products during the course of another investigation, according to the complaint. This check, police allege, was fraudulently deposited at a TD Bank ATM in Rockville Center, NY at 4:10 p.m. Sept. 4, 2019. However, the check was not altered like the others, police said.
NYPD showed video surveillance of a man depositing the check in a TD Bank account with a debit card, per the complaint, and the man was identified by NYPD as Joachim. He has been involved in other criminal investigations, authorities allege.
Univest Bank told detectives that the deposits of the forged checks from Blooming Glen Pork Products were for $8,800 and completed at 290 Merrick Road, Rockville Center, NY, on Sept. 4, 2019 at 4:12 p.m., police said.
According to the affidavit, the TD Bank account was in the name of a woman with the surname Wright, and records showed the $8,800 check deposit at the ATM on Sept. 4, 2019. The subsequent transaction was on Sept. 12, 2019, which was an electronic transfer of $8,800 to a TD Bank checking account, police said.
Police confirmed the TD Bank transactions, which showed a person-to-person transfer of $1,000 on Sept. 16, 2019 to Joachim, police said. Two more transfers for $1,000 each occurred on Sept. 20, 2019 to Joachim, police said.
Joachim is free on $25,000 unsecured bail, set at a July 17 arraignment by Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 20 at 2:30 p.m. before Armitage.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
