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Mount Vernon resident Jelani Knox, 29, was sentenced to a term of between two and four years in prison for identity theft in a scheme that included forging checks for deposit at Mount Vernon and Pelham bank branches.
Westchester County District Attorney Anthony Scarpino, Jr. said that on five different days last summer, Knox altered checks from five unrelated Mount Vernon victims’ accounts, totaling more than $34,000 and deposited them in bank ATMs in Mount Vernon and Pelham.
Knox would alter the amount on the checks and who they were made out to name, and then deposit them. Scarpino said the transactions were recorded on video and showed Knox conducting the deposits at the ATMs.
In July, Knox was arrested by Mount Vernon Police in a separate incident. At the time of his arrest, Knox was in possession of a forged check and two debit cards in the names of two different accounts, into which he planned to make deposits.
Knox pleaded guilty on Thursday, March 5 to five counts of first-degree identity theft.
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