Man caught for alleged forgery of checks

A man was arrested in connection with the burglary at the Deloitte & Touche Building on Capitol Hill last Dec. 8 where blank checks and other items were stolen.

George C. Teregeyo Jr. was arrested for forgery, theft, issuance of bad checks, conspiracy, theft by deception, and receiving stolen property.

The Superior Court imposed a $25,000 cash bail for Teregeyo’s temporary liberty. The preliminary hearing was set for Friday.

Detective George David stated in court papers that on Dec. 8, 2005, at 6:50am, an employee of Deloitte contacted police and reported a burglary incident at their office.

An inventory showed that two laptop computers, one LCD projector, $98 cash, and 20 blank company checks were missing.

A few days later, a Deloitte employee informed the police that one of the stolen checks with number 1775 had already been forged.

The check, in the amount of $252, was made payable to one Estanislao R. Litulumar. The check was deposited to a bank in the account of Erae Corp., owner of Hi-Mart in Dandan.

The storeowners admitted to a police investigator that they received the check no. 1775 from a male customer who purchased items from the establishment. The owners also disclosed that two other similar checks were used at their store by another local male customer, who usually would sell fish to them.

On Dec. 19, Deloitte informed the police that two other checks with numbers 1768 and 1771 were forged to encash $350 and $326.82.

On Jan. 1, 2006, David proceeded to the residence of Teregeyo in Dandan after learning he was involved in the forgery.

David said Teregeyo had stated that he received two checks from a local man at Hi-Mart. Teregeyo said he sold fish in separate incidents to the local man for $350 and $362. He said he cashed the checks at Hi-Mart.

On Jan. 4, however, investigators interviewed Litulumar at the Commonwealth Health Center. David said Litulumar admitted he received from Teregeyo and another man check number 1775 in the amount of $252.

Litulumar said the check was payment for his power generator. He said he sold the generator because he was desperately in need of money as his wife was at CHC.

Litulumar said he was happy because he was willing to sell the generator for $175 but Teregeyo handed him a check in the amount of $252.

He said Teregeyo assured him it was a good check. He then bought canned goods and other items at Hi-Mart, not knowing the check was stolen.

Litulumar told police that he got over $100 in change.