#worthless cheques

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"'Artist' Gets 2 Years for $1800 Swindle," Vancouver Sun. June 23, 1942. Page 2. --- John Albert Petti, alias G. Scott, was sentenced to two years in prison by Judge C. J. Lennox in County Court Monday after he had been convicted of defrauding Mrs. Angiolina deCamillis, 797 Keefer Street, $1800. An intimate knowledge her domestic affairs convinced Mrs. Angiolina deCamillis, 7 Keefer Street, of the bona fides of a man who represented himself as an officer of the law in order to obtain $1800, she told Judge C. J. Lennox in County Court today.

"I will never forget your face if I live another 20 years," said Mrs. deCamillis to Petti.

MEXICAN ARTIST "I said in Police Court you are a rat and you are. I prayed to God for the last three years to bring you back, and He has answered my prayer," the middle- aged woman told him.

Petti, who described himself as a Mexican artist, was arrest-ed in Toronto a few weeks ago.

According to Mrs. deCamill Petti is the man who came to her three years ago with a story that her estranged husband was entitled to $19,000 on some stock but that the law wanted her to have the money.

It was necessary to pay the company $2800, she said she was told, and she raised $1800 by I cashing in on her sons' savings and borrowing $500. She said the accused promised to put up the other $1000 and she was to pay him back.

The woman told about going later to the bank with a bearer cheque for $19,000, signed "International Gold Mine, per G. Scott," on July 10, 1939. The accused did not show up and cheque was worthless.

S. J. Remnant conducted the prosecution.

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“Faces Trial in Brockville,” Ottawa Journal. March 12, 1932. Page 4. ---- BROCKVILLE, Ont., March 11. - Arrested by Montreal police on a charge of having obtained an automobile from a local dealer under false pretences, by issuing a worthless cheque for $635, Thomas Cooke, aged 25, was brought here today to stand trial. Cooke purchased a car from J. E. Burns, motor dealer, tendering a cheque which it is alleged was of no value.

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“Bad-Cheque Artist Given Three Terms,” Toronto Star. March 4, 1932. Page 24. ---- Benjamin Butwell Sent to Jail by Etobicoke Magistrate --- Mimico, Nov. 4. - Benjamin Butwell was sentenced to three terms of one year each, to run concurrently, for issuing worthless cheques when he appeared before Magistrate Davidson in the Etobicoke police court yesterday. He was also facing three charges of reckless driving, failing to return to the scene of an accident and not having an operator’s permit, Norton Copping was remanded on $1,000 bail until April 7 in order that Roy Hicks, who was found lying on the road in Westmount and is in the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, might give his evidence.

On a reckless driving charge laid by H. Miles, F. Stull was remanded for a week.

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“WORTHLESS CHEQUE,” Owen Sound Sun Times. October 21, 1931. Page 1. ---- (Canadian Press Despatch) HAMILTON, Oct. 21— William Curtis, Augusta Street, induced a local unemployed apple vendor to cash a cheque for $32 for him. The cheque was worthless in police court this morning, Magistrate Burbrldge inflicted a term of three years In Portsmouth penitentiary.

[AL: Curtis was pretty old when he received this sentence - 62 and a widower. A Baptist born in Belleville, and working as a painter, he had an extensive and long criminal career. He had been in the Toronto Central Prison several times in the late 19th century, three terms at the Joliet Penitentiary in Illinois, and had spent 18 months at the Toronto Jail Farm. He would even come back to Kingston in mid-1935! He mostly was employed as a painter at Kingston Penitentiary, working on painting the outside walls without supervision. He did not take part in the October 1932 riot, and indeed claimed to have no complaints - he had never had cigarettes in the previous prisons. He was April 1934, but was back by January 1935, and even took part (unwillingly) in a riot in March 1935.]

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“Cheque Artist Gets 3 Years In Kingston,” Toronto Star. December 11, 1941. Page 2. ---- George Coyle Admits Six Fraud Charges - Got $720 in Jewelry ---- OWNERS PAY PAWN ---- ‘A’ Police Court, at the City Hall, Magistrate Browne. George Coyle pleaded guilty to six charges of obtaining jewelry valued at $720 by fraud from downtown stores.

‘This man is a consistent worthless cheque artist. This time he got in the big money,’ declared Crown Attorney F. I. Malone after reading Coyle’s record.

Coyle was recently released after serving a year in jail. He had appeared in police court six times since 1935 and had been convicted on numerous charges of fraud and theft.

‘I tried to help you in days gone by,’ asserted his worship. ‘Apparently you have made up your mind to live a life of crime. The sentence will be three years in Kingston penitentiary, on each charge, the sentences to run concurrently.’

Det. William Mulholland, who brought Coyle back from Montreal, stated accused came to Toronto from Ottawa early in November.

‘He had identification papers. On Nov. 8, he visited a store and got a diamond, with a worthless cheque, valued at $75. On Nov. 26 he went to another store and got a ring worth $115. The same date from another firm he obtained a ring, valued at $240. Nov. 27 he got another ring, valued at $135. Nov. 28 he got a ring worth $90 and Nov. 29 a ring valued at $125. In each case he gave worthless cheques drawn on an Ottawa bank. All were returned,’ the officer testified.

‘The diamond rings were pawned for $195, and the respective owners will have to pay the buyers to get their rings back,’ Det. Mulholland said. Coyle had nothing to say.

[AL: Coyle had previously been in the reformatory twice and twice in the local jail. He was purportedly a commercial book-keeper, married, with one child. Coyle came in 1921 to Canada from Scotland, and settled and lived in Ottawa on Couper Street; it sounds like he traveled for work and committed his cheque fraud in Toronto for that reason. He mostly worked in the tin and paint shop at Kingston Penitentiary - his family visited him several times at the institution. He was released by expiration of sentence April 1944.]

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“Three Year Sentence For Worthless Cheques,” Sault Star. February 12, 1930. Page 2. ---- Kingston, Feb. 12. - Gordon France, who was found guilty yesterday, of passing worthless cheques at Napanee was sentenced to Portsmouth penitentiary for three years. Many charges were pending against him in Toronto, Hamilton, Belleville, Buffalo, and other places.

[AL: France had no previous penitentiary convictions but had been in the reformatory once before. He was born in Woodstock, Ontario, had a high school education (rare for the 1920s) and was 26 at the time of conviction. He was convict #1590, a well-behaved prisoner, working in the mail bags, then as a clerk in another shop, and was paroled April 1932. He is an interesting example of rehabilitation - he moved to Hamilton, because a stationary engineer in a construction firm, and got engaged to a young woman from Hamilton, but when he was fired from his job, he went back to  his previous ways as a cheque artist, and was arrested and sent to the penitentiary in 1940.]

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“Suspended Sentence for Man Who Passed Worthless Bill,” Porcupine Advance (Timmins). April 10, 1941. Page 8. ---- Plea by Lawyer Saves Man from Term. --- On a charge of attempted theft by trick, John D. Harrison, 197 Cedar St., Schumacher, had a conviction registered against him and drew a suspended sentence after his attorney. Greg Evans, had made a strong plea for consideration for his client as the victim of circumstances rather than a law-breaker.

[AL: Long story for a null answer. Typical Northern story though.]

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“Windsor Man To Reformatory,” Border Cities Star. September 17, 1930. Page 05. ---- Bad Cheque Passer Sent Up For Series of Offenses At London ---- William Joseph Carrigan, of Windsor, will spend a lengthy period in the Ontario Reformatory as the result of his conviction in London, Ont., Tuesday, on eight charges of passing worthless cheques. His victims were banks and business houses in London.

The dapper prisoner, who has not been a stranger to the London police court in the past, was lectured by Magistrate Scandrett for his apparent determination to continue living by his wits. The magistrate recalled that, in May of this year, Carrigan received suspended sentence for defrauding a rooming house of board and lodging.

On six of the charges, in which the amount secured was more than $10, Carrigan was sentenced to an indeterminate spell of not less than a year nor more than two years less one day, in the reformatory. Two other charges, involving smaller amounts, brought sentences of six months each, to run concurrently with the longer sentence.

Victims of the fraudulent cheques, and the amounts, were as follows: Bank of Montreal, $25 in two cheques; Bank of Toronto $15; Royal Bank, $15, W. G. Bendle, $10; Hobbs Hardware, $25; Middlese Motors, $15.15, and the Denisteel Company, $15.