Hunker man pleads guilty in forged check theft scheme, ordered to repay victims

A three-year theft ring operated by a Hunker man swindled dozens of businesses and led to the prosecution of two innocent people whose stolen checks were used in the scheme.

Police said William D. Barnhart used forged stolen checks to purchase high-priced merchandise throughout the region.

Barnhart, 56, pleaded guilty Monday to one felony theft count in connection with the check-kiting scheme. Westmoreland County detectives eventually cracked the case in 2023 after years of pursuing evidence and reviewing more than $38,000 in hunting gear, antiques and outdoors equipment purchases.

The purchases involved businesses in Westmoreland, Indiana, Cambria, Allegheny and Butler counties and outdoor shows near Harrisburg.

According to court records, police said sometime in 2020 Barnhart broke into local homes in Hempfield, South Huntingdon and New Stanton and stole checks that he used over the next several years to make as many as 40 separate purchases.

Westmoreland County Detective William Brown said Monday that two of the victims whose stolen checks were forged by Barnhart were arrested in other jurisdictions on suspicion of financial crimes. One man was jailed for several days, Brown said, before charges were dismissed.

According to court records, detectives fanned out across the region in 2021 and 2022 to identify the person responsible for making the forged check purchases. Finally, in December 2022, investigators received a description of the suspect from a North Huntingdon-area business owner who described the check writer as a husky man about 50-60 years of age.

In June 2022, investigators obtained security video of the suspect in an Ebensburg store. Employees helped load a fire pit, purchased with a forged check, into a vehicle later identified as being owned by a Westmoreland County business where Barnhart was employed.

Police said the vehicle was outfitted with a GPS device that tracked Barnhart’s movements, which were linked to the items purchased with forged checks.

Brown said that on some of the checks, Barnhart listed his own date of birth and a portion of his driver’s license number as confirming identification.

When police searched Barnhart’s home in early 2023, they found some of the items purchased with forged checks, including a Civil War-era handgun, a night telescope and an electric bicycle, according to court records.

Barnhart was originally charged with 82 separate counts reflecting multiple felony charges for each of the purchases and checks that were forged. Prosecutors later consolidated the case to include seven charges that included theft, receiving stolen property, forgery, identity theft and other related offenses.

As part of a plea deal approved Monday, Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio dismissed all but one theft count and ordered Barnhart to serve three years on probation. Barnhart was also ordered to pay more than $32,000 in restitution to dozens of victims.

According to the county’s clerk of courts, Barnhart has made restitution payments of $20,600. He will be required to make $100 monthly payments until the all of his victims are repaid, the judge ruled. Restitution payments could be amended if any of the remaining items that were purchased are recovered.