Man convicted of forgery in Clark County accused of stealing checks from man in Kettering

Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. JIM NOELKER/STAFF

A man in prison for forgery and identity theft convictions in Clark County is now accused of taking a checkbook from a man in his 80s and using it to write thousands of dollars in checks to himself.

James J. Savage, 49, is charged with eight counts of forgery, five counts of theft and one count of unauthorized use of a vehicle, according to Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records. He is scheduled to be arraigned July 11 following his Tuesday indictment by a county grand jury.

In March 2022, Savage was asked to look into repairing the man’s vehicle while he was hospitalized, the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Savage asked to drive the truck to the library to get a wiring diagram for the vehicle, according to a Kettering police report. Later that day, the man’s daughter reportedly received a call from Savage saying he was pulled over by police on Woodman Drive. The woman and a friend drove up and down Woodman Drive looking for the truck and Savage and also called Dayton, Kettering and Riverside police to see if she could learn where the truck was taken to, according to the report.

The next day, Wright Patt Credit Union called the man’s son, who was also on the bank account, due to unusual activity. Savage had cashed four checks at four different branches, totaling $2,730, according to the incident report.

The man’s checkbook reportedly was reportedly left in the truck when Savage was asked to repair it.

James Savage. Photo courtesy the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

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Investigators received surveillance footage from the banks of the four transactions and identified Savage as the male shown in the video, according to the incident report.

The vehicle belonging to the man, who is now 84, has not been seen since Savage was asked to make the repairs, the prosecutor’s office said.

Savage is serving a 4½-year sentence in the North Central Correctional Institution in Marion for forgery and taking the identity of another convictions out of Clark County, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction.

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