New Britain Township Police. Photo by James Short.
Bobbi Nicole Forker aka Bobbi Nicole Morris, 51, is free on $25,000 unsecured bail.
A New Jersey woman has been charged with five felonies, including forgery and identity theft, after, authorities allege, she cashed someone else’s $4,335 tax refund check using their Social Security Number and a fake ID.
Bobbi Nicole Forker aka Bobbie Nicole Morris, 51, of the 1200 block of Walnut Ave, Haddon Twp NJ, was charged by New Britain Township detectives Sept. 20 for the April 20, 2024 incident with felony charges of forgery, identity theft, theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking, and receiving stolen property, according to court documents.
Forker is free on $25,000 unsecured bail, set at preliminary arraignment by Bucks County Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage, per court records.
Police allege in an affidavit that on May 28, a victim living on Anthem Way in the township came to police headquarters to report fraud.
The victim relayed that she filed her 2023 tax return and was due a $4,335 federal refund, police said. When the check never arrived, she called the IRS, who told her the refund check was mailed to her and deposited or cashed on April 22, per the complaint.
A copy of the front and back of the check showed a signature of the victim’s name, police said, but the victim neither signed the check nor signs her name the way it was on the check. Furthermore, the victim’s SSN was written under the signature, and she did not know how her SSN was written on the check, police said.
On July 1, detectives received banking information via a search warrant from Wells Fargo Bank. Records showed that the check was deposited into a Wells Fargo account for Steve-AL Inc., which does business as Steve’s Discount Liquors in Wilmington, Delaware, police said.
The liquor store also is a check cashing business, per the affidavit.
On Aug. 14, a representative of the liquor store told police she became aware that the cashing of the IRS refund check was an issue when Wells Fargo took the money back after the check was deposited into the store’s bank account, per the complaint.
The liquor store’s policy is to take a picture of every person who cashes a check at their business, as well as scan ID, police said. Police were given the picture of the suspect who cashed the check and a copy of the fake ID that was presented at the time of the deposit, per the complaint.
On Aug. 15, detectives conducted a facial recognition in Pennsylvania and New Jersey on the photo of the suspect, which returned a result of Forker as the suspect, police said.
Forker’s NJ driver’s license photo matched the photo of the suspect who cashed the check at the liquor store, police said.
Using law enforcement resources, police put Forker’s vehicle, a white 2017 Dodge Journey minivan, in Wilmington, DE on April 20 at 1:13 p.m., two miles from the Steve’s Discount Liquors and 45 minutes before the check was cashed, police allege.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. before Armitage.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
