Sixteen people have been arrested for taking part in a scheme to pass bad payroll checks in four counties and collect more than $100,000 from local banks and check-cashing businesses, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced Monday.
16 arrested, charged with cashing trying to cash bogus pay checks in 4 counties, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey. File photo NEW BRUNSWICK -- Sixteen people have been arrested for taking part in a scheme to pass bad payroll checks in four counties and collect more than $100,000 from local banks and check-cashing businesses, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey announced Monday.
Carey said the investigation began Aug. 11, 2015, in Highland Park, when five people arrived at a bank and tried to cash phony payroll checks.
He said their arrest led to a wider investigation and the arrest of 11 more people on charges of passing bad checks at banks and check cashing businesses in Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Monmouth counties.
Carey said the scheme ran between June 30, 2015 until Sept. 29, 2015.
The prosecutor said the investigation, led by Highland Park police Detective Ted Pardo and county Detective Ryan Tighe, found that three individuals obtained and prepared the phony pay checks and distributed them to other individuals who cashed them at the banks and check-cashing businesses.
RELATED: Ex-Edison police captain charged with theft
The three were identified as Ralph Jean-Gilles, 33, and Marcanthony Dorcent, 21, both of Roselle, and Machanley Jules, 28, of Rahway. They each were charged with promoting organized street crime, a first degree offense and second degree counts of conspiracy to write and distribute bad checks. Bail was set at $200,000 for Jean-Gilles and $100,000 each for Dorcent and Jules.
Carey said Shiraan Singleton, 33, of Roselle, was charged with second degree conspiracy to write and pass bad checks and a third degree count of promoting prostitution in an incident unrelated to the check scheme. Bail was set of Singleton at $60,000.
In all, bail ranged from $200,000 to $10,000 for all of the defendants.
Individuals charged with third degree counts of passing bad checks and theft by deception were James Wellington Jr., 48, of Mahwah; Marcel Rose Jr., 41, of Linden; Cheyenne Little, 23, of Elizabeth; Natasha Colon, 25, of Roselle, and Sonnel Santiago, 38, Maria Cancel-Martinez, 27, and Indiana Martinez, 30, all of New Brunswick, and Kamila Price, 21, of Belleville, Michigan.
Diana Rodriguez, 25, of New Brunswick, was charged with third degree counts of attempting to pass a bad check and theft by deception, while Derell Roberts, 31, of Elizabeth, Jahtiah Nix, 24, of Ewing, and Tristin Keck, 25, of Roselle, each were charged a fourth degree count of passing bad checks and a third degree count of theft by deception.
Carey said the individuals charged with first degree offenses are facing 10 to 20 years in state prison if convicted.
He said the investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Tighe at (732) 745-3300 or Detective Pardo at (732) 572-3800.
Sue Epstein may be reached at sepstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @susan_epstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
