Roachdale man accused of stealing checks

A Roachdale man is charged with a pair of felonies related to accusations he stole checks from an elderly woman.

Ronald Edward Porter, 62, was arrested on a warrant Thursday evening and formally charged with Level 6 felony theft and Level 6 felony forgery.

Court documents indicate that Porter subsequently forged the checks and cashed them at Teachers Credit Union in Greencastle.

Deputy Scott Ducker was dispatched to the woman's Roachdale home on April 15, and she told Ducker that five checks were stolen from two separate checkbooks but she was unsure of the timeframe.

When Ducker initially contacted Porter, he admitted to cashing two of the checks, but said the woman legitimately issued the checks to him.

By obtaining the five checks in question as well as a pair of legitimate checks from the victim's bank, Tri-County Bank in Roachdale, Ducker was able to match the handwriting on the checks as well as establishing a link between the fraudulent checks and Porter's TCU account.

Ducker then re-interviewed Porter on April 28, at which time he admitted to stealing the checks, forging information on them and cashing them.

Porter was booked in the Putnam County Jail at 7:02 p.m. Thursday. He appeared before Putnam Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges on Friday, entering a preliminary not-guilty plea.

Trudy Selvia was appointed counsel for Porter. He is set to be back in court on July 13 for a pre-trial conference. Bond was set at $10,000 with 10 percent allowed.