Indiana man charged with forging Manhattan mayor’s $2,000 check

An Indiana man has been charged with forgery of a $2,000 check drafted by the Manhattan mayor, which had been mailed at the local post office.

On June 6, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Edward Bass Jr., 21, of Hammond, Indiana, on felony charges of forgery and theft.

The charges were the result of an investigation by the Manhattan Police Department.

Manhattan Police Chief Ryan Gulli said he believes Bass has no connections or family in the village. He said the U.S. Postal Service was notified of the incident.

On Feb. 3, Manhattan Mayor Michael Adrieansen contacted the police department to report a check forgery that occurred from his bank account, according to a Manhattan police report.

A detective learned that Adrieansen “brought the check, ready to be mailed, inside the Manhattan post office and handed it to the teller,” according to the police report.

But the check never made it to the intended recipient, and the check was reissued to the name of “Edward Bass” without Adrieansen’s authority, according to the report.

The detective viewed a copy of the forged check and discovered that it was negotiated through a bank using a mobile deposit, and it had a routing number linked to a bank in Pennsylvania, according to the police report.

Postal inspectors recover more than $1 billion in counterfeit checks and money orders each year, according to the website for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

The federal agency recommends that people protect themselves from what’s known as check-washing by depositing outgoing mail in blue collection boxes before the last pickup and never leaving mail in their personal mailbox overnight.