MONROE — A man with a history of fraud convictions has been sentenced to three years in prison and owes nearly $10,000 in restitution for defrauding area businesses using fake payroll checks created at a Monroe address.
James J. Ellis Jr., 41, pleaded guilty Aug. 23 in Green County Circuit Court to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit theft by false representation and two felony counts of forgery. Eighteen other felony counts of forgery were dismissed as part of a plea deal but “read in,” meaning the judge could consider them at sentencing.
Judge Thomas Vale ordered Ellis to spend three years on extended supervision after his three-year prison sentence. Ellis was also recently sentenced to nine months in jail, to run concurrent to his Green County sentence, for a Lafayette County misdemeanor conviction of theft by false representation.
Six area businesses are seeking a combined total of $9,885.82 in restitution in the case. The biggest restitution request, $3,626.41, is from Papa Don’s Horseshoe Saloon, 1901 10th Ave., Monroe. In a victim-impact statement, the business reported having to borrow money to cover financial losses from the incident.
A representative for another affected business in the Monroe area, Clarno Lumber & Supply Co. Inc., wrote in a victim-impact statement that Ellis “knew exactly what he was doing” and it “was not a mistake by no means.”
Ellis has convictions of forgery and writing bad checks going back 20 years in Stephenson County, according to Illinois court records. He was arrested last year for several new felony cases there, also involving forgery and bad checks. Those cases are still pending.
The last known address for Ellis is a rental commercial property in Monroe at 1005 30th St. Court records indicate the property owner successfully evicted him in October 2017 for failing to pay the utilities and security deposit as agreed in a five-year lease Ellis signed five months earlier.
It’s not clear that Ellis ever conducted legitimate business at this address, but the names of two businesses using this address appeared last fall on fake payroll checks Ellis and others cashed, according to court records.
Neither of the businesses, “Five and Dime Thrift Store” and “Jee Telemarketing,” show up in a state database of registered corporations, LLCs and other entities.
According to the criminal complaint, Ellis and three others used fake payroll checks from this address between Aug. 25 and Dec. 1 to pay for cash and merchandise at six area businesses, including Roll ‘N’ Smoke and The Storage Sheds in Monroe, Gempeler’s Supermarket in Monticello and the Piggly Wiggly in Brodhead.
When a detective with the Monroe Police Department stopped by 1005 30th St. in October 2017 to investigate, he found the front door ajar and “observed in plain view” a computer printer with check-printing paper the same color as the fraudulent checks.
In all, police recovered more than two dozen fake checks, according to the detective’s investigation. In each case, the checks used real routing numbers but fraudulent account numbers and were returned marked “unable to locate account.”
Ellis has three co-defendants in the fake check operation. Each was charged with one Class H felony count of conspiracy to commit theft by false representation.
Jamie Anna Beth Baxter, 34, address unknown, was also charged with one felony count of forgery and is under a deferred prosecution agreement.
♦ Emily Helen Meier, 28, Warren, was also charged with five felony counts of forgery. Her case is still pending.
♦ Kayla Karine Niedermeier, 20, Rockford, Illinois, had her felony theft charge downgraded to a Class A misdemeanor charge of writing worthless checks and a felony forgery charge dismissed. She’s serving a 12-month probation and is eligible to have the case expunged under a state law that grants leniency to young offenders.