NAPLES, Fla. — Collier County deputies arrested an Estero man yesterday after he attempted to cash thousands of dollars’ worth of stolen business checks.
Detectives said 40-year-old Beshoy Habashi went to multiple banks in Collier County and presented business checks that he stole from the mail.
He successfully cashed one for $1,980.88 that was mailed to a Naples business.
A bank manager become suspicious when Habashi tried to cash a check for $2,390. The manager asked to verify the validity of the check, but Habashi become uncooperative and eventually left.
He left the check and his driver's license at the bank.
The manager contacted the business that wrote the check and learned that Habashi was not authorized to cash it.
The check was originally written for $10,000. It had been “washed” to change the dollar amount to $2,390 and to make it payable to Habashi instead of the intended business.
Habashi had been arrested on an unrelated criminal mischief charge on Wednesday and was booked in the Collier County jail, where detectives located him yesterday.
He is charged with two counts of grand theft $750 - $5,000, two counts of uttering a forged instrument and one count of impersonation.
