Johnson Sentenced to Probation for Forgery

A District Court judge sentenced a native of North Hollywood, CA on Thursday to a term of supervised probation and ordered him to pay restitution, after he plead guilty to two felonies.

Theo Carruthers Johnson, 23, was sentenced to four years of probation in lieu of a suspended three to six year prison sentence for forgery.  He was also sentenced to three years of probation in lieu of a suspended two to four year prison sentence for possession of forged writings and forgery devices.  The terms of probation are to be served concurrently.

Johnson was ordered to pay $3,456.63 in restitution Thursday to US Bank and serve 100 hours of community service over the next 15 months.  He was also ordered to undergo a Level 2.1 intensive outpatient treatment program and a corrective thinking class.

“Do something like this again and in all likelihood, you’re going to be off in someone’s penitentiary,” said Judge Donnell.

Charges were brought against Johnson in April in connection with a report of forgery at U.S. Bank.

The affidavit states that an officer of the Laramie Police Department who were dispatched to the branch on March 20 met with a victim who reported that $18,000 had been transferred from her savings account to her checking account without her authorization.  In addition, there had subsequently been a withdrawal from her checking account in the amount of $9,000.

The initial transfer was made by phone, but US Bank could not verify who made the call.  The officer learned that the withdrawal was made through a check written out to a third party, but the handwriting on the check did not match the victim’s handwriting.

According to the affidavit, the branch manager believed that the third party had a relationship with Johnson, who was formerly a teller at the branch.  The check was deposited on the date that Johnson quit.

After three days the officer was notified that a Claude Padilla Vasquez was trying to cash a check on the victim’s checking account in the amount of $9,517.  Vasquez said that the victim was a family friend who had given him the check to help pay off student loans.

A handwriting sample from Vasquez was determined by officers to be similar to the check Vasquez attempted to cash.  Police say that Vasquez told them he wrote out the check himself and that he received the check from Theo Johnson.

The affidavit says Vasquez showed the officers text messages from Johnson instructing him how to fill out the check, which teller to avoid at US Bank, and to keep $1,500 for cashing the check.  The texts also said that Johnson would get $8,000.

After being contacted by officers, Johnson stated that he delivered three partially filled out checks to Vasquez and that he was the US Bank teller who made the transfer of $18,000 after receiving a phone call from someone he thought was the victim, according to court documents.