By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
A 30-year-old man who works for a carpet cleaning company has been charged with theft and theft by deception for stealing checks that belonged to an elderly woman, according to the Montgomery Township Police Department.
Marc Lahens, 30, of Asbury Park, was a member of a cleaning crew that was hired to clean the victim’s carpets at her home on Sept. 12, police said. While he was in the victim’s home, he removed three checks from the victim’s checkbook and cashed two of them.
Several days later, the victim noticed that three checks were missing, police said. The victim contacted her bank and discovered that two of the three checks had been cashed for a total of $600.
When Police Department detectives followed up with the bank, Lahens was identified as the person who cashed the checks. The carpet cleaning company was contacted and confirmed that he was a member of the crew that was hired to clean the woman’s carpets, police said.
Detectives located Lahens on Sept. 27, and obtained a full confession from him regarding the theft, police said. He was arrested and later released on his own recognizance.
