News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Columbus Resident Sentenced 2 Years in Prison for Role in Check Forgery Operation

April 21, 2025, Joshua Davy, 36, appeared in front of Judge Cottrill to receive sentencing for charges related to a string of fraudulent checks.

At his sentencing, Davy pleaded guilty to two counts of Forgery, both a felony of the fifth degree and each holding a prison sentence of up to a maximum of twelve months.

Judge Cottrill sentenced Davy to 24 months in prison and was ordered to pay $1,945.00 in restitution to the bank where he knowingly cashed a fraudulent check.



Details of the Case:

June 7, 2023, a clerk at the Frazeysburg Community Bank branch unknowingly cashed a fraudulent check. Days later, when the bank discovered the forgery, an internal alert was created for the individual who cashed the check, Joshua Davy.

On August 3, 2023, the Frazeysburg Police was dispatched to the Community Bank in reference to Columbus resident, Joshua Davy, attempting to cash another fraudulent check at the Frazeysburg branch. This time for an amount of $2,225.

The clerk identified Davy from the internal alert and after an attempt to stall him, Davy became suspicious, grabbed his check and papers and fled the bank.

Reports uncovered that after Davy left the Frazeysburg Community Bank, he immediately went to the Northpointe Branch in Zanesville where he was able to successfully cash the check.

Investigations found the checks were from Newark Electrical JATC. During interviews, an employee with Newark Electrical informed detectives that a batch of checks that were addressed to multiple vendors were stolen from their outgoing mail. The party who stole the checks washed and reprinted them with a forged signature of the secretary treasurer’s name.

These checks then made their way into a check forgery operation in Frazeysburg and surrounding areas.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael Hughes discovered that Davy, at the time of his indictment, was on community control in Franklin County for 5 different felony cases; 2 of which were forgery.

The Court of Common Pleas in Franklin County terminated Davy’s community control on all of his pending felony cases without imposing any prison sentence in any one of his other five cases.

Public records indicate the termination was finalized on March 28, 2025, titled with, “Entry Terminating Community Control Due to Incarceration”

The public record states that, “it appears that said Defendant was found guilty of Forgery (F5) in case number CR2024-0203 before the Muskingum County Common Pleas Court, and that said Court has sentenced the Defendant to a penal institution for the term prescribed by law.”

Joshua Davy was not sentenced in Muskingum County until April 21, 2025.

Furthermore, with Franklin County’s early termination of Davy's community control there, the victims are out thousands of dollars in unpaid restitution.

Assistant Prosecutor Michael T. Hughes emphasizes the impact that financial crimes can have on a victim, "People often dismiss financial crimes as harmless; jurisdictions such as Franklin County continue to refuse to hold even the most blatant, brazen and repeat offenders accountable. And the fact that Davy was on probation for five (5) separate felony cases in Franklin County evidences the priority placed on appeasing criminals rather than making the victim whole.”

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