Perkasie Borough Police. Photo by Tony Di Domizio.
The defendant, police allege, changed the payee name on the stolen check to her own and cashed it.
A Lehigh County woman turned herself in to authorities on Tuesday after being wanted since early September on felony forgery charges out of Perkasie Borough.
Erin Marie Reph, 22, of the 200 block of Church St, Catasauqua, is accused of forging her name on a check for $1,208.76 and cashing it at Penn Community Bank, 1119 N. 5th St. in Perkasie in August, according to charging documents.
Reph is free on $50,000 unsecured bail, police said. She is also charged with misdemeanor theft by deception, per court documents.
On Sept. 3, at 2:40 p.m., a fraud analyst from the bank called police to report a fraudulent check was cashed on Aug. 29 at 11:05 a.m., allegedly by Reph.
The check was initially written to “L.L. Bean” and placed in the mail, according to the affidavit.
At some unknown point, the check was removed from the mail, police said. The payee line was changed to Reph, per the complaint.
When the check was cashed, Reph’s license was scanned by a teller, police said, which police used to match her to the suspect on surveillance.
Penn Community Bank reimbursed the original payor and the bank is now at a loss of $1,208.76, police said.
Bucks County Magisterial District Judge Maggie Snow issued a felony warrant on Sept. 9, police said. Reph was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage, per court documents. A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 10 at 2:30 p.m. before Armitage.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
