Drug treatment center operators accused of forgery

A husband and wife in Florida were charged on Feb. 9 for forging checks and depositing them into the bank accounts of two companies that they operate. The 37-year-old man is facing 13 forgery counts, and his 29-year-old wife is facing two forgery counts. The total amount of the combined checks is $37,500.

Prosecutors say that the forged checks were issued from insurance companies and made out to a doctor for drug addiction treatment services. Although the doctor did not work for the accused couple, the spouses allegedly deposited the doctor’s checks into the bank accounts of their companies, Hope Center for Rehabilitation LLC and Relapse Prevention LLC. The message “for deposit only” was stamped onto the back of the checks, and the accused man endorsed some of the checks.

During the investigation, the office of Hope Center for Rehabilitation and two sober homes were raided. After the accused man was led out of the building in handcuffs, an employee told reporters that he was shocked. The employee said that the accused man was one of the only people that he trusted in the drug treatment industry. The Palm Beach County Sober Home Task Force has never charged the accused couple for patient brokering, which is a common practice among drug treatment centers.

Business owners may be falsely accused of forgery if their accounting is disorganized. In other cases, business owners may face forgery charges because employees are engaging in illegal activities that they were not aware of. A criminal defense attorney might be able to help a business owner argue that they did not willingly or knowingly commit acts of forgery.

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