Font ResizeBRATTLEBORO -- A local woman has been charged with forging and cashing her ex-husband’s checks, withdrawing nearly $9,000 from his account over the course of more than a year.
On Tuesday, 58-year-old Janice Marine Bostwick, of Brattleboro, pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of forgery and one misdemeanor count of petit larceny of $900 or less. She was released on conditions and scheduled to appear back in court on Nov. 8.
If convicted, Marine Bostwick is facing up to 41 years behind bars.
On May 23, Robert Marine, told police he noticed a few of his checks were missing and when he went to the bank and reviewed his statements, he saw dozens of checks he hadn’t written where someone had forged his signature. He stated many were written out to his ex-wife, Marine Bostwick.
According to the affidavit, between Nov. 11, 2010, and May 19 of this year, Marine Bostwick cashed or deposited 27 checks, worth about $8,795 from Marine’s account.
Brattleboro Police Officer David Cerreto stated in the affidavit that he met with a teller at Martin’s bank later that day and was given photocopies of the stolen and forged checks.
Cerreto stated he also obtained photos, generated by the bank’s video monitoring system, from the days the checks were cashed at the bank’s two local branches, that show Marine Bostwick approaching a teller, handing them a check and walking away with various amounts of
On June 1, Cerreto met with Marine Bostwick and showed her one of the pictures from the surveillance footage. She admitted it was her and that she was cashing a check from her ex-husband’s checking account.
When asked if she had forged his signature on a particular check she stated, "No, I don’t believe so ... I think he gave me that one," then she asked if she should get a lawyer because "I think maybe I’d better because I’m looking at a very long prison sentence here," the affidavit states.
She was arrested and while en route to the Brattleboro Police Station, told Cerreto, "I can’t believe my ex-husband is doing this Š I mean he would much rather see the mother of his children go off to jail. It’s unbelievable," the affidavit states.
Josh Stilts can be reached at jstilts@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311 ext. 273.
