UA community being targeted by check thief

"The case is ongoing," said University of Arizona Police Department Cmdr. Brian Seastone. "It's still in the beginning stages."

A UA employee's checks were stolen at the end of December. A student discovered her checks missing in January and two other employees fell victim this month.

Seastone said if the man is caught, he could be charged with fraud, burglary or theft.

The man allegedly steals checks, takes them to various banks, forges the victim's signature and writes the checks out to the name "John Green."

Laurence Toolin, a senior research specialist in the UA Geosciences department, lost $450 after Green took four of his checks in December. Toolin's checks were taken from a lab located at the Physics-Atmospheric Science building, 1118 E. Fourth St.

Green cashed one of Toolin's checks for $200 and another for $250 at Saguaro Credit Union, 801 E. Speedway Blvd.

"He's not very bright," Toolin said. "The bank made him put his thumb print on the checks."

Toolin said he did not notice the checks were missing "for a while" because Green removed them from the middle of his checkbook.

"If someone without an account here tries to cash a check, they must be fingerprinted," said Sue Lyn Hull, Saguaro Credit Union's operations vice president.

Hull declined further comment, citing customer privacy rights.

The next victim, a student who asked that her name not be published, left her checks in a Memorial Student Union office, 1303 E. University Blvd., from Jan. 23 to Jan. 25. She noticed $450 missing from her Bank of America checking account Feb. 3, police reports stated.

Two of the student's checks were cashed at various Bank of America branches by Green. It was unknown which Bank of America branches he visited, reports stated.

Tim Jull, also a Geosciences department research scientist, lost $770 after Green took his entire checkbook on Feb. 5 and cashed three checks. One of Jull's checks was cashed at Bank One, 947 N. Park Ave.

Jull told police he had last seen his checks at 9 a.m. on Feb. 5, reports stated. He said he went to use his checkbook at 5 p.m. that same day and discovered it missing, reports stated.

"I don't know anything about this specific instance," said Steven Roman, Bank One's senior vice president of corporate relations. "This is the first I've heard of it."

Roman said all Bank One tellers are required to ask for a picture identification depending on the amount of the check. If the check is more than $250, the customer is asked to show two forms of identification.

Nancy Sciacca, an adjunct instructor in the UA's English as a Second Language department, was the fourth victim.

Sciacca lost $250 when Green cashed one check at the same Bank One branch. She also lost $80 in cash and a cellular phone, reports stated.

"I called the bank and they told me, 'I can't find your file - there's just so many fraud cases,'" she said.

Sciacca told police she left her office in the English as a Second Language building, 1100 E. North Campus Drive, at 2 p.m. While she was gone, a co-worker said she saw a man walk into her office and rummage around Sciacca's desk.

The co-worker confronted the man, who said he was looking for a specific professor, reports stated. When the man could not find the professor, he agreed to leave a note which the co-worker said she would give to UAPD for evidence.

Despite the man's possible sighting, Sciacca is dissatisfied with what she says are errors by bank officials.

"He (Green) misspelled my name, printed my signature and showed an ID with no issue date," Sciacca said. "I'm not a teller, but I would use common sense. It was just stupidity."