Eureka Police suspect a 64-year-old man and 47-year-old man, both of St. Louis, stole checks from a mailbox outside Selbert’s Auto Body, 410 W. Fourth St. The men allegedly altered the checks to steal $13,675.14 from the business, police reported.
The older suspect was arrested by Chesterfield Police on Nov. 15, when he was allegedly trying to cash a check at a Montgomery Bank. The man allegedly forged his name where the check was made out to the National Coating Supply Company, the report said.
The check was originally paying the National Coating Supply Company $10,132.59. The man allegedly changed the check’s value to $2,313.44, according to the report.
The suspect allegedly already cashed a different check at a Montgomery Bank in Valley Park from Selbert’s Auto Body that also was made out to the National Coating Supply Company. The check was originally made out for $57,345.09, but it was altered to have the man’s name and be worth $2,113.44, the report said.
The man told investigators two men in a white station wagon had offered him money to cash the checks. He said he had never seen the men before they offered him money to cash the checks, according to the report.
The man was released by Chesterfield Police, pending the application for a warrant, Eureka Police reported.
A Selbert’s Auto Body employee said the checks were put into the company’s mailbox on Nov. 13. She said the checks were not made out to the man who cashed the checks, the report said.
Selbert’s Auto Body contacted Eureka Police again on Nov. 20 after two more of its checks were cashed at a Commerce Bank in Florissant by the younger man. Those checks also were mailed on Nov. 13, according to the report.
The checks cashed in Florissant were worth $7,053.22 and $2,195.03 and made out to State Farm Insurance. The man, who allegedly cashed the checks, was wanted on warrants for stealing and had a history of drug offenses, the report said.
As of Dec. 1, Eureka Police had applied for warrants against both men through the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and neither man had been arrested, Capt. Michael Werges said.