Selected reports from the Bainbridge Island Police Department blotter.

FRIDAY, MAY 25

11:37 a.m. A 39-year-old Kingston man was arrested for identity theft and forgery after attempting to cash a fraudulent check at a Bainbridge bank.

The bank manager said the man had come in to cash a $900 check. After making a copy of the man’s ID, the bank clerk found the handwriting on the check was not the same as others made out by the customer, a Hansville resident.

The man became impatient and left the bank, and the clerk called the Hansville customer to ask if he had written the check. He said he had not. When his account activity was reviewed, it was found a check for $855 had been cashed earlier that day at a bank in Poulsbo.

The customer said he did not authorize that transaction either.

The bank provided copies of the checks to the police, who verified with the customer that he had not written either of them.

The man who attempted to cash the check at the island bank was found to have several previous involvements with police, including being listed as a suspect in a Bremerton robbery. He was also on probation with the Department of Corrections.

Though his address was listed as SeaTac, the man’s parole officer supplied a current Kingston address to police, who contacted him.

He agreed to meet with police to discuss the incident, at a gas station near the Point Casino.

The man claimed he’d been given the check by a man he met at the casino, who asked him to cash it.

The Poulsbo bank cashed a check for a different man, who the Kingston man admitted to knowing, saying they were both trying to cash checks from the Hansville man’s account on the same day. He did not specify how they obtained the man’s banking information.

He was arrested.