BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man was arrested Monday for allegedly altering a check a woman had written to her grandson and depositing it into his own bank account.

Cameron Dean, 31, of Buckhannon, was arrested for uttering, a felony, in connection to an incident that reportedly occurred in October 2021.

According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Cpl. B.K. Wright with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police, on Oct. 19, 2021, Wright received a forgery and uttering complaint from a woman. The woman told police she wrote a $20 check to her grandson that was dated Sept. 28, 2020, and the same check cleared the bank more than one year later, on Oct. 13, 2021.

However, the woman told police the check had been altered in several key areas, including the date, the amount box and the legal line. Samples said her grandson appeared to have signed it, but there was another signature under his name – a signature reading, ‘Cameron Dean.’ Wright then interviewed both the woman’s grandson and Dean, and neither individual admitted to the forgery of the check, according to the complaint. Dean allegedly told police he found the check in his car and due to “his drug addiction and needing money,” he signed the check and deposited it in his bank account, the complaint states.

Upshur County Magistrate Alan Suder set bail at $5,000 cash or surety, and as of Thursday morning Dean remained incarcerated, according to the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority website.

The potential penalty for a conviction of uttering is confinement in the state penitentiary for not less than one, nor more than 10 years and in the discretion of the court, confinement in jail for not more than one year and a fine of up to $500.