Christine Alva Francies

WARSAW — A Fort Wayne resident has been arrested after allegedly writing more than $5,000 in fraudulent checks.

In February, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department received a call from a local bank stating Christine Francies, 37, 9905 Oak Trail Road, Fort Wayne, had deposited a check with them on Dec. 21, 2015, for $5,000, on an account from another financial institution. The check was payable to a company Francies owned.

The next day, Dec. 22, 2015, Francies wrote a check to another business for $5,000, thus removing the $5,000 she had initially deposited in the account. After that, Francies reportedly continued writing checks on that account.

On Dec. 24, 2015, the $5,000 check that had been deposited came back from the other financial institution as “insufficient funds.” The bank attempted but was unable to establish contact with Francies.

The bank representative discovered on Feb. 17, that Francies’ account was closed and overdrawn by $5,570. In addition, when Francies deposited the $5,000 check in December, the account it was written from contained only $108.57.

Officers arrested Francies on charges of fraud on a financial institution, a level 5 felony, and theft, a level 6 felony. She was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail with bond set at $10,000 surety and $250 cash.