The Fergus Falls Daily Journal

A 32-year-old Fergus Falls man was convicted Monday for felony theft by check after writing thousands of dollars in checks from the closed account of his dead grandmother in 2011.

Joshua Tobias Moen was placed on probation for 10 years and sentenced to 45 days in jail.

He also faces more than $8,900 in fines, fees, and restitution. Court records state that Moen attempted to write checks worth $23,231 on the closed account from August to October 2011.

In August 2011, the deceased woman’s bank notified law enforcement that someone was using the woman’s closed account to write checks (she died in June).

The initial checks were written to businesses all around the area, from Fergus Falls to Underwood to Rothsay to Fargo. After contacting a business that Moen paid by check for a car wash, deputies learned the probable identity of the check writer.

A deputy contacted Moen, who said that his grandmother had pre-signed a number of checks for him to use for his trucking business.

However, the bank said no one was authorized to write checks on the account.

In October, the sheriff’s office began hearing reports that Moen was again using the checks for a number of different purchases, including buying a motorcycle. One person to whom Moen wrote a check said that Moen told him his grandmother was living in Florida at the time of the purchase.