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Local man allegedly stole cash from mom

2 min read

A North Strabane Township man was arrested Thursday by North Strabane police after he allegedly stole almost $22,000 from his mother’s bank and credit union accounts.

Steven James Grudi, 46, of 138 Sunset Drive, was arrested on charges of access device fraud, theft, theft by deception, forgery and receiving stolen property for allegedly stealing the money from Margaret Grudi.

Robert Grudi, also the son of Margaret Grudi, reported the alleged theft to police on Aug. 22 after discovering a bank account was overdrawn. Detective John Wybranowski, who filed the charges, said Robert Grudi is on the account with his mother. Robert Grudi discovered numerous unauthorized transactions on accounts at a credit union and bank.

Robert Grudi found that more than $20,000 was missing from the accounts after reviewing the transactions with his mother.

Most of the transactions were withdrawals from automated-teller machines. His mother checked, and she still had the credit union card in her purse.

On Aug. 23, Steven Grudi allegedly tried to cash two checks totaling $600 at the credit union. The teller refused to cash the checks because of the problem with the account. The signature of his mother on one of the checks also appeared to be forged, police said.

Wybranowski said he determined that many of the fraudulent transactions were done at a bank at Washington Crown Center in North Franklin Township and at a gasoline station, also in North Franklin. Police said Steven Grudi could be seen on surveillance video conducting the fraudulent transactions. There were 150 transactions between June 1 and Aug. 21, totaling $21,996.92, according to police. Wybranowski said he received good cooperation from the bank and businesses that made surveillance tapes available for his review.

Grudi was arraigned before District Judge Jay Weller and placed in Washington County Jail on $30,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 10 before Weller.

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