Man convicted of check theft

A Greencastle man was given a two-and-a-half year sentence in Putnam County Circuit Court Monday in connection with the theft of personal checks.

Stephen J. Bridges, 26, was originally charged with nine counts of Class C felony forgery and one count of Class D felony theft. Under the terms of a plea agreement, Bridges was convicted of the theft charge.

He was given a 30-month sentence with 18 months to be executed. Since he has been in jail for 240 days, released from jail after his court date with time served.

Bridges will remain on probation for a year.

According to court documents, Bridges wrote nine checks to himself from the personal account of Jeremiah O'Neal of Fillmore. Bridges then cashed the stolen checks.

Court documents said Bridges owed O'Neal money that he couldn't repay, so Bridges agreed to do work at O'Neal's home. Bridges stole 11 checks from Bridges between January and March.

"Mr. Bridges said he knew that Mr. O'Neal was refinancing his home and would get money back," a report prepared by Indiana State Police Officer James T. Dungan said. "Mr. Bridges said he thought he would get a large enough sum of money that he wouldn't notice the money missing."

Dungan's report said Bridges admitted the thefts to him on Aptil 17. Bridges told Dungan he used to the money he got from the stolen checks to "pay bills and have spending money because he didn't have a job."

Bridges also told Dungan he knew what he did was wrong and that he wanted to rectify the situation, court documents said.

With the amount of the checks and fees, O'Neal's monetary loss was about $810.