Apple Valley Man Charged with Theft, Check Forgery

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An Apple Valley man has been charged with stealing jewelry and blank checks from an Apple Valley woman, then having a friend cash a forged $500 check at a Lakeville bank.

Trevor John Soukup, 30, is charged with two felonies: offering a forged check and theft, each of which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. 

According to the criminal complaint, an Apple Valley woman contacted police on Aug. 3 to report that someone had stolen several pieces of jewelry from her home. 

The woman, who said there was no forced entry into her home, estimated the value of the jewelry at more than $1,000.

Police checked pawn records and discovered that the jewelry had been sold at a pawn shop in Bloomington by a man identified in court records by the initials N.S. The man told police that Soukup had given him the jewelry to pawn for him, telling him that it had belonged to Soukup’s ex-girlfriend.

On Aug. 4, the victim reported that some blank checks were missing from her home, and that a forged check in the amount of $500 had been cashed at a Lakeville bank on Aug. 1. The check was written to a woman identified by the initials A.W., and the victim’s signature was forged on the check, according to the complaint.

Investigators contacted A.W., who told them that Soukup had given her the check to cash, telling her it was from a family member.

Police tracked down Soukup and arrested him. He told officers that he took the jewelry and the checks while staying at the victim’s home, and that he had gone with N.S. to pawn the jewelry and with A.W. to cash the forged check, according to the complaint.

Soukup, who is also facing separate Dakota County charges of credit-card fraud and receiving stolen property, remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $10,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in the forgery-theft case is scheduled Oct. 2 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.