Maine post offices targeted in scam Bogus checks allegedly used to buy stamps

NEWPORT – Buying postage stamps with a bogus check this week earned two men summons to court and landed one in the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor for violating his probation, based on several convictions in Ohio and California.

Michael W. Monroe of Bangor, no age provided, was summoned on a charge of negotiating a worthless instrument, a check from a closed account. Moore was charged in connection with a worthless check written Dec. 7 for $460 to the East Newport Post Office to purchase postage stamps.

Monroe reportedly was accompanied by Jack A. Parker Jr., 22, of Dexter, who was charged with theft by deception in connection with the incident. Parker currently is being held at the county jail for violating the conditions of his probation from Ohio and California.

The two men allegedly were working together in an attempt to defraud U.S. post offices in several local communities, according to Newport Police Chief James Ricker. In connection with the investigation, Newport police recovered $1,100 in postage stamps.

Ricker described the scam as “a new twist on an old law.”

The men reportedly had opened a checking account to get an account number and subsequently closed the account. With an account number, the men allegedly were able to print bogus payroll and personal checks by computer, Ricker said. The checks were used at post offices in Etna, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Hartland and East Newport, the chief said.

The intent of the operation was to purchase the stamps and turn them in for cash, Ricker said. Postal policy, however, does not allow stamps to be returned for cash, he said.

Newport police were working with several other law enforcement agencies as well as the U.S. postal inspector out of Portland.

Monroe reportedly is involved in other incidents tied to bogus checks and may face additional charges.

Parker was out on a multiyear probation for his conviction in California for “taking a motor vehicle in the possession of another,” a charge loosely translated as a carjacking, according to Maine Probation Officer Donn Stauffer. Parker reportedly knew the occupants of the car, Stauffer said.

In Ohio, Parker was convicted for failure to comply with the order of a police officer, receiving stolen property and two counts of felonious assault. Stauffer understood the charges stemmed from a police chase involving the car stolen from California and resulted in the ramming of a police cruiser.

Parker was allowed to serve his probation in Maine because he has family here, Stauffer said.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t have taken him,” the probation officer said.

In connection with Parker’s summons on the theft by deception charge, Stauffer learned he also had been charged with drunken driving in Bangor. The Bangor incident resulted in Stauffer’s ordering Parker held at the jail for violating his probation.