Sentencing has been scheduled for March 11 for a 22-year-old Blaine County man who admitted in court to stealing checks from his mother, writing them out to himself and cashing them.
Seth I. Allen pleaded guilty to the felony crime of grand theft at his arraignment Jan. 7 in Blaine County 5th District Court. In exchange for his guilty plea, the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office agreed to have felony charges of burglary and forgery against Allen dismissed.
Judge Robert J. Elgee advised Allen that the crime of grand theft is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Allen remained incarcerated Tuesday in the Blaine County jail on $75,000 bond. He has been in custody since his arrest on Dec. 5 by the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office.
Allen’s guilty plea represents the second time that he has been convicted of a felony for stealing checks from his mother. At the time of his latest arrest, he was on probation for a 2010 conviction for stealing a checkbook from his mother and writing checks to himself on the account of the Wood River Fiber Arts Guild.
He has also now been charged with a probation violation in the earlier case.
The latest charge stems from an incident at Allen’s parents’ home on Treasure Lane near Hailey on Nov. 16. Sheriff’s Deputy Kristen Quinton wrote in a probable-cause affidavit that she was notified on Nov. 28 that Allen had broken into the home and stolen three blank checks from his mother’s checkbook. Quinton wrote that the couple became aware of the theft on Nov. 20 when they discovered the account was overdrawn.
According to Quinton’s report, Allen wrote checks payable to himself and forged his mother’s signature on two of the checks, one for $386.43 and the other for $880.
In court on Jan. 7, Allen admitted that he had taken the checks and written them out to himself without his mother’s permission.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Seth I. Allen
