$136 check to Tree of Life altered to $6K payment to Wilkinsburg woman, Penn Township police say

A Wilkinsburg woman was arrested this week after Penn Township police say she altered a check that was intended to be a donation to the Tree of Life synagogue.

Employees at a township bank grew suspicious of the check when Anna M. Krause, 30, opened a checking account and tried to deposit a portion of a $6,000 check and obtain the remaining proceeds in cash, according to court papers. Plus, it had an “altered feel” to it and was missing a specific symbol, the employees told investigators.

When employees contacted the couple who wrote the check, they learned it was written as a $136 donation to the Squirrel Hill synagogue, not a $6,000 payment to Krause, police said. Krause is accused of forging the signature.

It was unclear from court papers how Krause got the check or how the amount was changed.

While bank employees were discussing the matter, Krause fled. Police said the couple did not know Krause and that their donation never made it to the synagogue.

A warrant was issued for her arrest earlier this month when police filed charges of forgery, access device fraud and bad checks.

She was located this week by Westmoreland County sheriff’s deputies in Pittsburgh and was taken into custody without incident.

Krause was being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $5,000 bail. She did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for Tuesday.

Eleven people were killed in the Tree of Life synagogue when a gunman stormed the building Oct. 27, 2018. The gunman has been sentenced to the death penalty.