Crime & Safety
Police: Man Swindled In-Laws, Skipped Town
David Wiesenthal is accused of stealing from a Plainfield resident who was kind enough to give him a home.
After his in-laws were kind enough to take him in when he was down on his luck, a former Plainfield man repaid them by bilking them out of $800, according to Will County Sheriff's Police.
David E. Wiesenthal, 41, wound up in the Will County jail on Sept. 7, nearly a year after he skipped town, heading to his native Kentucky, sheriff's department spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.
According to Hoffmeyer, the victim allowed Wiesenthal to stay at his Plainfield home in October 2012, giving him a place to live while he was getting back on his feet financially. But within just a few days, the homeowner realized several of his personal checks were missing, according to police.
On Oct. 9, 2012, Wiesenthal took a Greyhound bus back to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, Hoffmeyer said. "On that same day, [the victim] received a call from a bank advising him of possible fraudulent transactions on his checking account," according to Hoffmeyer.
Police said Wiesenthal stole around $800 from the victim's checking account. "Our investigators were able to obtain evidence regarding [Wiesenthal] making transactions at several different banks in Romeoville," Hoffmeyer said.
A warrant for Wiesenthal's arrest was issued in January 2013, but it wasn't until last weekend that he was brought into the Will County jail via a private transport company out of Kentucky, Hoffmeyer said.
Wiesenthal is charged with forgery, and is being held at the Will County jail on $250,000 bond.
Police report information is provided by local police departments. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.
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