Man charged after reportedly forging paychecks to re-deposit money

IDAHO FALLS — A 43-year-old man is in jail after his boss reported that he had been forging paychecks to re-deposit them.

Jedediah Little was charged with two counts of felony forgery.

According to court documents, on Feb. 8, around 1:18 p.m., a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy was asked to contact the owner of Buchanan Well Drilling about a forgery/fraud report.

The owner told the deputy that he believed one of his employees, Little, was washing checks and trying to pass them.

According to the owner, on Feb. 12, The Bank of Idaho contacted him and said someone had been washing checks drawn on his business account.

Police reports say the first paycheck was for the first week of January, in the amount of $2,457.76. It was issued to Little, who tried to mobile deposit it into his account. The bank flagged the check as possibly fraudulent, declined the transaction, and notified the business owner.

Although that check was caught, Little had reportedly previously tried to deposit the same check on Feb. 1 for $457.76 for the same pay period, and it cleared. The next day, Little was allegedly caught on security cameras withdrawing these funds from The Bank of Idaho ATM.

The owner told the deputy that Little had called the company’s payroll department on Feb. 1, and said something was happening with his bank account, and there was “money in his account which he wasn’t supposed to have.”

Payroll told him to call the bank to check if his account had issues, which he reportedly did.

According to the owner, the Bank of Idaho froze his business account because of the fraudulent checks, which has “been a nightmare for him trying to get things back in order and effectively and efficiently run his business,” according to police reports.

The owner says he spoke with Little about the situation and was shown the legitimate paycheck issued on Jan. 8 for $457.76.

Little signed the check on the back, but police reports say the signature was “illegible.” According to the owner, Little told him it “wasn’t him doing this.”

The signatures from the original valid paycheck Little provided and the signatures on the back of the two fraudulent checks are reportedly identical.

The deputy also discovered that Little is currently on felony probation out of Payette County for felony possession of a controlled substance.

On Feb. 27, the deputy met with the employee in charge of payroll at the company. She said she knew Little had worked for the company “for a short time,” and when he first started working with them, she helped him set up a checking account.

She told the deputy she remembered Little calling her in February and telling her he had some fraud activity on his account, so she suggested he call the bank and report it.

On March 6, the deputy spoke with Little on the phone. Little reportedly stated he knew the company’s owners but had been terminated “a while ago.”

Little said he remembered the two suspicious checks deposited into his account and “did know a little more about the checks than he told (the owners).”

He reportedly told deputies he withheld information from the company’s owners because he feared losing his job.

Little explained he was “embarrassed” about what had happened.

According to police reports, Little told the deputy he had met someone named “Haven Quinn” on Facebook. This person allegedly “convinced him to provide her with his banking login and password.”

He said that when he saw the first fraudulent deposit, he called the payroll department to report it. He then called the bank and reported it.

When he noticed a second deposit, he withdrew the money from the account. According to court documents, “Haven wanted him to send the money to one of her friends.” Little says he did not know the check was forged but was “suspicious of Haven.”

The deputy says in his report that Little was “insistent” that he noticed the first check was modified and that he did not see the second check because the bank only notified him of the deposit.

According to Little, he used the withdrawn money to pay the bills and planned to repay the company’s owners.

Later that day, the deputy met with Little in person, where he was shown a text conversation between Little and Haven. The conversation starts with Haven saying, “You blocked and stole from me,” and Little responding, “You got me f****** fired from my job.”

Haven then tells Little he got himself fired, and Little responds, “Yeah by giving you my login information and you tried to scam me.” Haven responds, “I never did…God sees my heart and he knows I can never do anything to hurt my fellow human.”

A warrant for Little’s arrest was issued on May 21, and Little appeared in court for an initial appearance on Tuesday. His bond was set to $25,000.

Little is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on June 18. If convicted, he could face up to 28 years in prison.

Though Little has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

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