A man from Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood is accused of altering and cashing checks that an elderly man from Moon and Ross fire police tried to mail.

Police in Moon filed charges Aug. 13 against Jaden Iman McDougald, 26. Ross police filed charges against him on Aug. 17.

Warrants have been issued for his arrest.

In Moon, police said McDougald altered and cashed for just over $8,000 three checks that an 87-year-old man had placed in his own mailbox to pay bills, according to a criminal complaint.

In Ross, a check for $8,383 to a garage door company that the township’s fire police had placed in a mailbox outside the West View post office was altered and deposited, Ross police said in their criminal complaint.

Moon police began investigating after receiving a theft report from an 87-year-old man on Aug. 3.

A fraud investigator with Clearview Federal Credit Union told police they suspected the man was a victim of fraud after three checks were drawn from his account and flagged for suspected fraudulent activity, according to a criminal complaint.

The man wrote the checks to pay bills and placed them in the mailbox outside his residence. The checks did not reach their intended destinations, as the man’s bills were not paid, but the checks were drawn against his account for about $8,005, the complaint states.

The original amount of one check to Mastercard, altered to $2,362.46, was unknown. A check for $178.18 to Duquesne Light was changed to $3,300.25, and a $1,394.25 check to State Farm was changed to $2,342.25.

The payee on all three was changed to the name of a Clearview account holder, who is not charged.

Police said McDougald is seen on three video banking sessions identifying himself as the account holder and depositing the man’s checks into the Clearview account. Police detailed purchases and transactions in which the money is withdrawn from the account.

The account holder told a postal inspector that he did not cash the checks and was out of state, the complaint states. That person did not report the activity on his account as suspicious or fraudulent.

Ross case

In Ross, fire police treasurer Barry Grubbs told police on July 24 that on June 10 he had written a check for $8,383 to Thomas Giel Garage Doors. He gave the check to secretary Jan Belke, who placed it in a mailbox outside the U.S. Post Office in West View.

The company notified Grubbs several weeks later that there was an outstanding balance for the same amount for work that had been performed, the complaint states.

The fire police’s bank, West View Savings, reported that the check had been deposited at a Clearview ATM on July 3, according to the complaint.

The check that was deposited was not the same check that Grubbs had issued to the garage door company, the complaint states.

The deposited check had a blank face, where Grubbs’ check had an American flag. The check was now issued to “Kedar Perdue,” and “donation” was written on the memo line. A signature for “Kedar Perdue” was on the back of the forged check, according to the complaint.

Ross police did not state whether Perdue actually exists.

Police learned from Clearview that the check was deposited into a Navy Federal Credit Union account, the complaint states. Video surveillance from the Brentwood location shows a man, identified as McDougald, entering the bank for a brief time, exiting and depositing the fire police check into an outdoor ATM.

Ross police charged McDougald with felony counts of forgery, theft by deception and access device fraud.

Moon police charged McDougald with three counts each of identity theft, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and criminal use of a communication facility, all felonies, and three misdemeanor counts of forgery.