September 20, 2017 at 4:27 p.m.
Rhinelander man enters guilty pleas on forgery, ID theft charges
Rhinelander man enters guilty pleas on forgery, ID theft charges
Alexander W. Durand was charged Dec. 29, 2016 with two counts of forgery, one count of misappropriating ID information to obtain money and a misdemeanor theft charge. An additional case was filed Jan. 17 accusing him of fraudulent use of a financial transaction card, theft of movable property and take and drive a vehicle without consent, all felonies, along with a felony count of bail jumping. A third case was filed on Feb. 15 charging Durand with additional felony counts of forgery and misappropriating ID information to obtain money.
At a plea hearing last week before Judge Patrick O'Melia, Durand entered no contest pleas to one count each of forgery, misappropriating ID information to obtain money, fraudulent use of a financial transaction card and felony bail jumping.
As part of a plea agreement, the remaining charges were dismissed but will be read in for sentencing purposes.
O'Melia found Durand guilty of the charges and ordered a pre-sentence investigation be conducted. Sentencing was set for Nov. 1.
Assistant district attorney Mary Sowinski plans to ask for a sentence of 18 months in prison. O'Melia could sentence Durand to up to six years in prison on each felony and fine him up to $10,000.
According to the criminal complaint, the investigation began when a local credit union called Oneida County Dispatch to report an individual matching the description of someone who tried to deposit a check from an earlier incident was back in the drive-thru. When the investigating deputy arrived, he found Durand in the drive-thru and had him pull forward into the parking lot.
While another deputy stayed with Durand, the first deputy went inside where he was given several suspected forged checks totaling $9,700 that Durand had tried to deposit into his account, the complaint alleges. By this time, a detective with the sheriff's department also arrived on scene.
According to the report attached to the criminal complaint, Durand initially denied he was the one who attempted to deposit the checks, claiming someone else was doing it to get him in trouble. Eventually, Durand admitted to the deputies that he had forged the checks himself, allegedly telling a deputy "he has a condition, an obsession with money, and that once he gets into 'a zone' as he calls it, he just wanted to gather all the money that he (can)," according to the report.
Another case was opened on Nov. 4, 2016 when the manager of a local car dealership reported the unauthorized use of a company credit card to Rhinelander police. According to the police report attached to the criminal complaint in that case, during the course of the investigation, it was discovered that Durand had allegedly used the credit card to pay for XBoxLive purchases as well as a purchases at a local gas station.
While that investigation was ongoing, on Jan. 12, 2017 the owner of a pickup truck called the sheriff's department to report that the vehicle was missing from where he had parked it the night before at an establishment on Lake Julia Road. Rhinelander officers found the truck at Durand's house with a new license plate, the complaint states.
When questioned about the truck, Durand allegedly said he purchased the truck from the alleged victim but later changed his story. After Durand was arrested for operating a motor vehicle without owner's consent and the vehicle was impounded, a search warrant was obtained for the vehicle and Durand's residence. Mail belonging to people other than Durand was allegedly found in both locations.
At a bond hearing in January, district attorney Michael Schiek argued against a reduction in the $15,000 cash bond set at the initial appearance, noting that when Durand was released on a signature bond after the first case was filed against him he continued to steal mail and use personal information obtained in that mail to commit crimes beyond forging checks.
"This case is evolving, and it is not only evolving on a weekly and daily basis, but pretty much on an hourly basis," Schiek said. "Just so the court is aware, right now we have counted 260 victims, with those names on some kind of envelope or some sort of mail form. Some of those victims have more than one piece of mail. There are checks and death notices, there are tax documents, and they have all been found as a result of these searches."
During one search, a file folder was discovered with a death notice along with a denied application for a credit card in the name of the deceased, Schiek said.
"There are also applications for another eight or nine victims that have been located," Schiek said. "Those were in Mr. Durand's house itself. There is another victim where 16 credit cards were taken out and applied for in his name. The case really is exponential at this point, Judge."
O'Melia denied the bail reduction request and Durand has been held in the Oneida County Jail since.
Durand may also face federal charges under U.S. Code for theft or receipt of stolen mail, which carry a maximum prison sentence of five years on each count upon conviction.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at jamie@rivernews online.com.
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