Elkhart Police arrest pair on multiple counts of forgery

Two people have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of forgery for allegedly forging checks and stealing $7,680 from their former roommate.

Our reporting partners at The Elkhart Truth obtained the probable cause affidavit in this case.

According to the probable cause affidavit, in January 2015, Richard Jabs reported his former roommates, Allen Evans and Sarah Gerstorff forged his checks and said they stole several thousand dollars from him.

Jabs told Elkhart Police he noticed the checks in his checkbook were out of order. He went to his bank and learned over 40 checks had been forged, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Jabs told police he never gave Evans or Gerstorff permission to fill out or cash his checks and never wrote any checks to them.

Investigators obtained surveillance footage from the bank and confirmed Gerstorff and Evans cashed Jabs' checks, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The checks cited in the probable cause affidavit for Evans range in amounts from $80 to $300 and were written between December 2014 and January 2015. The 22 checks totaled $3,590.

Evans is facing 22 counts of forgery.

The checks cited in the probable cause affidavit for Gerstorff range in amounts from $60 to $500 and were written between December 2014 and January 2015. The 15 checks totaled $4,090.

Gerstorff is facing 15 counts of forgery.