A Florida man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after being charged with writing fraudulent checks, to the tune of almost $500,000, over 15 years.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office Economic Crimes Unit conducted two separate investigations that resulted in the arrest of 51-year-old Matthew Welty.
Welty was arrested for Grand Theft after he forged checks from his place of employment to himself over the course of 15 years. In this case, he stole over $466,000 dollars.
Later, in 2021, Welty was arrested again for authoring fraudulent checks. Welty was caught writing himself checks from his new place of employment, totaling over $11,000 dollars.
Matthew Welty was later found guilty, and yesterday, February 21, 2022, Matthew Welty was sentenced for his crimes.
Welty will serve 8 years in prison followed by 20 years of probation for his first Grand Theft case. He will also serve 8 years in prison followed by 7 years probation for his second case. These sentences will run concurrently.
“Justice is sweet,” stated Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “This crook was sentenced to 8 years in prison and will pay nearly $500,000 in restitution. The impressive teamwork by our Economic Crimes Unit and our State Attorney’s Office is second to none.”
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