A 46-year-old Bremerton woman was charged with forgery and second-degree theft last week after Bainbridge Island police alleged she stole the checkbook of a Bainbridge woman and her 83-year-old mother and wrote 28 checks for herself.
Katherine Elizabeth Courtney was charged with the two felony counts Thursday, March 30 in Kitsap County District Court.
Bainbridge police said they learned of the thefts on Monday, March 27 after the Bainbridge woman came to the police station to report a theft.
She told police that she had a joint banking account with her mother, a Poulsbo resident, but had been notified that day by Union Bank that her account was overdrawn when she tried to make a withdrawal.
The Bainbridge woman then asked to see her transaction history, and discovered that more than two dozen checks had been made out to the Bremerton woman.
All told, 27 checks had been written out to the Bremerton woman, plus another check that was made out to “DOL” but had the Bremerton woman’s driver’s license number on it.
The checks totaled $3,870. The account had also been assessed and overdraft fee of $33.
The Bainbridge woman also gave police a text conversation between herself and Courtney, in which she confronted Courtney about the forged checks.
In that conversation, police recounted,
“Courtney apologized repeatedly, asked Browning not send the cops to her house, and said that she would turn herself in,” according to court documents.
Police contacted Courtney and asked her to come into the police station to make a statement. She did on Wednesday, March 29, and allegedly confessed to the forgery and theft, according to the statement of probable cause in the case.
She said she had filled in her name on the checks and forged the signature of the Bainbridge woman’s mother, then endorsed the back of the checks with her signature and cashed them.
The Bremerton woman also said the check written to the Department of Licensing was made to cover a ticket so her license would not be suspended.
The money from the other checks, she told police, was used to buy alcohol and for gambling, among other things.
Courtney was arrested last week and booked into Kitsap County Jail. Bail was set at $10,000.
Conviction of second-degree theft can result in a maximum five-year prison term and a $10,000 fine.
Forgery also carries a maximum five-year prison term and a $10,000 fine upon conviction.
