Two men from Georgia have been arrested by Cranberry police on charges they stole mail containing checks and used the information to create counterfeits that were exchanged for cash, according to authorities.
Quentavious Price, 32, of Lithonia, Ga., and Xavier Ferguson, 24, of Jonesboro, Ga., are accused stealing outgoing mail from businesses, according to Cranberry police Sgt. Chuck Mascellino.
“They appeared to have been targeting mail boxes in industrial parks and using the information on the checks to create counterfeits that were then filled out and cashed,” the sergeant said.
Police said the pair were spotted lifting checks from mailboxes along Route 19 in Marshall and in Cranberry.
The suspects were traced to a motel in Cranberry. Police executed a search warrant there. Investigators found a typewriter believed to have been used to fill out the checks along with 22 counterfeit checks worth more than $53,000.
Some of the checks that were confiscated were from companies in Ohio, where the men are believed to also have been operating.
Price and Ferguson each were charged with more than 50 counts of forgery, conspiracy, theft, receiving stolen property and related crimes.
They remain in the Butler County Jail after being unable to post the $75,000 cash bond set for each of them, according to court records.
The pair are scheduled for preliminary hearings at 10 a.m. May 10 before District Judge David T. Kovach.
Staff writer Brian Rittmeyer contributed to this report.
