WESTFIELD – A Chicopee man was arraigned Monday on charges of stealing nearly $2,000 from a 95-year-old Westfield woman.
Justin M. Cressotti, 30, was released on his personal recognizance after being arraigned in Westfield District Court on charges of larceny over $250 from a person over 60 years old and nine counts of uttering a false check.
According to Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 267, Section 7, uttering false check is intending to injure or defraud by falsely making, altering, forging or counterfeiting a note, certificate or other bill of credit issued by the state treasurer.
“It shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years,” according to malegislature.gov.
Cressotti, who is known to the victim, allegedly stole checks from the victim’s Westfield residence after visiting the victim’s home earlier this year, according to court records.
The defendant wrote out nine checks to himself and cashed them at St. James Check Cashing located at 31 Franklin Street. The checks were cashed between May 5 and June 3, ranging from $250 to $800 each, totaling $3,050, according to court records.
The checks were cashed against Cressotti’s St. James check cashing account and positive identification was obtained each time a check was cashed. Additionally, video surveillance was able to catch the defendant cashing some of the checks, according to court records.
The victim told police she did not authorize these checks to be cashed by Cressotti and only became aware of the transactions when Metlife informed her that her account was overdrawn, according to court records.
St. James initially absorbed the loss from three overdrawn checks until Cressotti paid $1,350 in restitution to St. James Check Cashing.
The victim, who was born in 1920, had $1,700 stolen from her account, allegedly from Cressotti.
The defendant is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on September 14.
Staff Writer Christine Charnosky can be reached at [email protected]
