Man Sentenced for Trying to Cash WC Rebate Check Meant for Day Care Center

Monday, November 12, 2018 | 0

A convicted drug and sex offender has been sentenced after pleading guilty to forging his name on an Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation rebate check that was intended for a day care center.

Keith Galloway

Keith Galloway, 45, was sentenced to one year in prison, to be served concurrently with a sentence for a recent drug conviction and for failing to register his address with authorities, according to a bulletin from the bureau.  

The man fraudulently obtained the check, part of the bureau's annual premium rebate to Ohio businesses, and scratched his name on it in 2017. An alert clerk at the Check Smart check-cashing business sniffed out the fraud, though, and alerted law enforcement.

“We have to give credit to the clerk; she made our job easy,” said Jim Wernecke, director of BWC’s special investigations department. “She could tell the man added his name to the check and he wasn’t the rightful owner. But instead of simply turning him away, she took his picture, photocopied his driver’s license and had him fill out an application. Then she confiscated the check and refused to cash it.”