Galesburg Police on Friday, July 29th, responded to Tompkins State Bank on Henderson Street in Galesburg for an earlier attempted fraud report. Bank employees told police the day prior, that a white male subject in a Cadillac came through the drive-thru and attempted to cash a check. The check was written to an account of a deceased couple, and the account had been closed since 2018. Bank employees asked the suspect for identification, which he provided. When employees informed 38-year old Kevin Helton of Galesburg that the account had been closed, he provided the name and phone number of the person he claims wrote him the check. The phone number was not valid. Helton departed and left the check behind. Employees also noticed the check was “ran” at F&M Bank prior, due to a bank stamp on the back. According to police reports, F&M Bank already cashed three other checks from the same closed account. GPD then responded to F&M Bank and obtained a security video of Helton cashing the three other checks. Attempts to locate Helton were unsuccessful. Helton, who is a parolee, was added to the GPD pending arrest list and is facing 4 counts of Forgery, Theft over $500, and Fraud of a Financial Institution.
