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Hector O. Tejada, 50, of Union City was targeted after an Allendale resident told borough police that a state-issued check had been stolen, Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said Tuesday.
A joint investigation involving Grewal’s Financial Crimes Unit, borough police and postal inspectors found that Tejaja, who was based at the U.S. Post Office in Dumont, had “stolen the check and negotiated it through his personal bank account,” the prosecutor said.
Further investigation found that he’d stolen nine checks in all from March through October, he said.
Tejada “forged the names of the check receivers on the back of each check and deposited them into his personal checking account through the use of automated teller machines and cellular telephone electronic deposits,” Grewal said.
The joint team working the case arrested Tejada in Dumont on Monday.
He was charged with theft by deception and forgery and released pending a Dec. 27 first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
The investigation isn’t over, Grewal noted.
“Members of the public, particularly in the Dumont area, who suspect they may have been the victim of mail theft are encouraged to contact the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-201-226-5532 or the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General at 1-888-877-7644,” the prosecutor said.
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