HAUGHTON, La. – A local man was charged with forging and cashing six checks at Barksdale FCU for almost $4,000 on his ill grandmother’s account.
Phillip Hoffman, 27, was charged with six counts of forgery.
His grandmother is in a retirement facility in Shreveport and has a debilitating illness and left her checkbook with her daughter and Phillip Hoffman’s mother, Ruth Hoffman, according to authorities. Recently, Ruth Hoffman noticed four checks missing from a new checkbook. She then ordered the checks be stopped.
The credit union notified Ruth Hoffman on Aug. 24 that Phillip Hoffman had tried to cash one of the checks on which she ordered a stop payment.
The signature on the check was that of the grandmother. Ruth Hoffman told the credit union her mother has not been able to sign her name for more than a year, adding there was no way she could have written the check.
Checks were cashed on five separate occasions. On the sixth attempt, the credit union teller told Phillip Hoffman of the stop-payment and confiscated the check.
The checks were all located and the inked fingerprint on the checks was matched to Phillip Hoffman. The total loss to the credit union is $3,941.18.
