Man buys Porsche with fake cheques, arrested
What's the story
Even Grand Theft Auto was not this insane! Case in point: This 42-year-old conman, who was arrested in Florida on July 29 for driving off with a Porsche car from a dealer after presenting a cheque he printed from his home computer. He also tried buying Rolex watches with a similar cheque, but, to his misfortune, the dealer decided to verify it.
Theft
What was the man thinking?
Casey William Kelley printed a fake cheque mimicking the appearance of his cashier's cheque from the bank. He then keyed in a random amount of $139,203.05 on it and visited a Porsche dealership in Okaloosa County. Kelley presented the cheque and successfully treated himself with a Porsche 911 Turbo. This man even posted his image with the car on social media.
Appetite for luxury
On to 'buying' Rolex just like that!
Kelley, by now confident from his previous transaction worth nearly Rs. 1cr, drove his Porsche to a jeweler in Miramar beach the next day and tried purchasing three luxury Rolex watches with a fake $61,521 cheque. However, the jeweler kept the watches until he could verify the cheque. The jewelry dealer reported the cheque on July 30, but by then Kelley was already arrested.
Claim
Defense: Fake cheques but real account number
This was because the car dealer reported the incident to the Okaloosa County Sheriff on July 28; Kelly was arrested the day after. He was then moved to Walton County Jail after the jeweler's report. Kelly confessed that the cheques weren't from his bank. In his defense, he claimed that the counterfeit cheques had his real account number, and so his purchases were legit.
Context
Other grand thefts that tarnish Florida's reputation
Interestingly, Florida has a history of grand thefts. A woman named Holly Jukuri was arrested on Tuesday for swindling thousands of dollars from the account of a youth baseball league for her expenses. Separately, entrepreneur David T. Hines from Miami was held after he bought several luxurious items including a Lamborghini Huracán from the funds/loans he had received under the federal Paycheck Protection Program.