Richard E. Bosley Jr. had a warrant issued for his arrest after he did not show up for a court date.
HANCOCK COUNTY — One of the two Indianapolis men accused of cashing fraudulent checks in late October 2021 for thousands of dollars in the name of the James Whitcomb Riley Festival Association has been sentenced following a plea agreement in Hancock County Superior Court 2.
Marlon Lavert Coley, 57, 2500 block of Coral Bark Place, Indianapolis, was facing four Level 6 felony charges of theft and forgery. However, two of the charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal accepted by Judge Dan Marshall on Nov. 10.
Coley pleaded guilty to two Level 6 charges and was given a jail term of 730 days with 144 days of jail credit as the remaining 586 were suspended. He was given the same sentence for each count which are to run concurrent. He has also been ordered to pay $4,167 to the Riley Festival Association, court records state.
Marlon Lavert Coley had his case settled via plea agreement.
The other man in the case, Richard E. Bosley Jr., 52, 700 block of North Denny Street, Indianapolis, who was facing the same charges was supposed to have his case addressed late last week as well. However, Bosely did not show up in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the two men cashed four fraudulent checks in late October, 2021 for over $8,350 in the name of the James Whitcomb Riley Festival Association. Officials said the two each passed two checks at different Greenfield Banking Company branches.
Officers from the Cumberland Police Department were called to GBC’s Cumberland branch, 12140 E. Washington St., to take a report for fraudulent checks and theft last November, the report stated.
Branch manager Anita Turner, who happened to be a member of the Riley Festival board at the time of the incident, told police she was alerted to the possible fraudulent activity by the Riley Festival Association treasurer, Ted Ochs.
Turner told investigators two men cashed fraudulent checks at GBC branches in Cumberland, Fortville and New Palestine on Oct. 25, 2021. The suspects cashed two checks each at different times during the day.
The checks were made out to Bosley and Coley in the amounts of $1,964.50 cashed at the Cumberland branch, $2,219.25 cashed at the Fortville branch, $1,943.15 cashed at the Cumberland branch and $2,224.50 cashed at the New Palestine GBC location, the affidavit said.
Turner told police that she investigated the checks and discovered they were copies of real checks. Turner stated that the real checks and the fake ones had some subtle differences but that the fake copies — made out to the two suspects — were convincing on their own.
The fraudulent checks had copies of Ochs’ signature and the Riley Festival Association president, Nancy Alldredge, on them, the affidavit said.
Turner told the Daily Reporter at the time, “Neither man has anything to do with the Riley Festival in any way, shape or form.”
Turner provided police with copies of the legitimate checks issued by the Riley Festival Association. One had been lost and never it made it to the vendor. The other three checks were all cashed by the proper individuals before Oct. 25, 2021, the affidavit said.
Turner told officials that, per bank policy, any time an individual wants to receive cash for a personal check, the tellers must check the person’s identification and write the drivers license or identification card number on the back of the check below the endorsement. That happened in this case, the affidavit said.
Two of the checks had Bosley’s name and driver’s license number on them; and two had Coley’s name, Social Security number and driver’s license number on them, the affidavit said.
Police received a notarized affidavit from the Riley Festival treasurer, Ochs, stipulating that no one associated with the festival had authorized the transactions to the two men, the affidavit said.
