A Palm Beach-based luxury homebuilder received a phone call from his electrician — a typical call by any measure for a pair of professionals engaged in one of the biggest businesses on the island.
While such a call may have been typical, the electrician’s message was anything but. The call would spur a Palm Beach Police Department investigation that led to the arrest of a suburban Boynton Beach man, who police say opened a bank account in the electrical contractor’s name and deposited a stolen check, according to court records.
And the man now facing a felony fraud charge told police that he met the person who told him what to do on Instagram.
The homebuilder first reported to Palm Beach Police on Jan. 13 that in November, he mailed a $75,694.98 check to the electrician from the U.S. Post Office at 401 S. County Road. The electrician called in January to say that the check never arrived. When the homebuilder reviewed his bank statement, he saw that the check was deposited in December to a JPMorgan Chase Bank account, an arrest report said.
The electrician told the homebuilder that bank account did not belong to the electrical contractor’s company, the report said.
Documents from Chase Bank showed that the account was opened Dec. 10 in the name of the electrician’s company, and the check was deposited Dec. 11, police said. Chase Bank then closed the account on Dec. 26 with a zero-dollar balance because of fraudulent activity, the arrest report said.
The bank account listed an address connected to the suburban Boynton Beach man, who was identified on the account as the company’s president, the report said. The account also had the tax identification number assigned to the real electrical contractor.
The electrician told police that she “had never heard of” the suburban Boynton man, who she said did not work for the company and did not have permission to open a new bank account.
Though he initially denied being involved, the man admitted to opening the account and depositing the check when speaking with Palm Beach detectives on April 2, the report said.
The man said that “he was looking to make money” and met someone through Instagram who offered to pay him to open the account and deposit the check, according to the arrest report.
The man was arrested April 21 on a felony charge of fraudulent use of personal identification information, according to court records. He was released the same day on $5,000 bond, according to jail records.
His arrest was the second related to fraudulent activity involving checks within a week made by Palm Beach Police.
A 31-year-old suburban Boca Raton woman was arrested April 14 on charges of grand theft, uttering a forged check and criminal use of personal identification information after police said she deposited a counterfeit check for $45,851.17 drawn on one of the Flagler Museum’s bank accounts into her own account.
Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach Police arrest man on fraud charge involving stolen check
Reporting by Kristina Webb, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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