OCALA, Fla. – A woman accused of stealing checks from her boss and cashing several of them for thousands of dollars is facing 20 felonies for fraud and theft.
UPDATE: On Oct. 8, prosecutors decided not to pursue 19 of the charges, leaving only one felony count of grand theft between $750 and $5,000. They blamed the store owner, writing, “[He] did not appear for testimony after being personally served a subpoena and confirming receipt of the subpoena. Without cooperation ... to substantiate the report by law enforcement, the state cannot proceed.“ On Oct. 22, Gordon was freed in lieu of $2,500 bond.
The owner of a convenience store she frequented was the first to find out what happened, the arrest report from Florida said. In August, he told the owner of the farm where Gena Marie Gordon worked that he cashed three of her stolen checks.
The store owner had gotten a letter from his bank “advising the three checks were ordered as stop payment due to fraudulent activity,” the arrest report said, and “he is not being reimbursed.”
He cashed the checks totaling $1,150 over three days in early August: one, made out for $350, on Aug. 5; the second, for $400, the next day; and the third, also for $400, the day after that.
The store owner also told authorities, “There is no video footage at the location; however, he is familiar with the defendant, as she has been a regular customer for a long period of time.”
The victims alerted deputies about Gordon, with the owner of the farm telling them, “The defendant was an employee of hers for approximately two years and was taking care of her dogs, cleaning, etc.
“She advised she has never had issues with the defendant in reference to stealing; however, recently, she became involved in illegal drugs.”
She also said there were more checks and more money involved, and she had text messages “where the defendant was apologizing after [the victim] mentioned stealing $1,800 that she knew of.”
In early September, the farm owner sent authorities screenshots of bank statements that showed four other checks “made out to the defendant, Gena Gordon; however, [the victim] advised she did not write any of these checks out to the defendant.”
She added, “The dog groomer she uses, who also knows of the defendant, told her that the defendant came into the shop, within the timeframe of the check frauds, and made admissions to stealing checks from [the victim] due to owing her money.”
The groomer told the deputy Gordon “came into the shop with her dog and while she was there, she was talking about her situation with [the victim].
“[The groomer] advised the defendant admitted to stealing checks from the victim and cashing them somewhere, due to the victim being abusive to her animals and for owing her money.
“The defendant did not advise where she cashed the checks.
“[The groomer] advised the defendant told her this approximately three weeks ago, which would be around the week of August 12, 2024, but that it had been happening over the last few months.”
Then, the deputy took copies of the four checks from the statements to the bank branch they were cashed.
There, he learned, two more checks, totaling $810, “were also cashed at the location during the same timeframe of the others.
“I was able to see the checks belonged to [the same victim], like the other ones I received copies of, with the defendant’s name and signature on them.
“The handwriting on the checks cashed at [the branch] as well as the ones cashed at the [convenience store] all appeared to be the same handwriting.
“It should be noted,” the deputy continued, “while speaking with [the victim] during this investigation, she advised the defendant took multiple checks from her; she was just not aware of all the check numbers. The total loss for [the farm owner victim] is $2,610.”
On Sept. 12, Gordon was detained and taken for a recorded interview, where her story seemed to unravel.
“I initially asked to defendant,” the deputy wrote, “to explain the situation involving checks with her and both victims.
“The defendant admitted to stealing a checkbook from [her boss] a few months ago, and then writing out three checks, which she cashed at the [convenience store].
“She advised she was having a hard time and needed money, so she wrote out the checks from the victim’s checkbook and was able to cash them at the [convenience store] because the victim [owner] knows her.
“When I confronted the defendant with the six other checks written out to her, and showed to be cashed at [the bank branch], she denied ever going into the branch and cashing checks.
“The defendant initially stated she had never been to the branch listed above, and did not have an account, but later stated she had an account several years ago.
“She then advised she went to the [bank branch] several months ago to cash an unrelated check from her dad.
“The defendant continued to advise she only ever cashed checks from [the victim] at the [convenience store] and that it was only ever the three checks.
“The defendant recalled writing out two checks, one for $650 and one for $580, but insisted she cashed them at the [convenience store].
“I advised the defendant that the three checks she cashed at the [convenience store] were for $400, $400, and $350; however, the $650 check [number] and the $580 check [number] were cashed at [the bank branch].
“The defendant became frustrated and denied ever going into [the bank] and requested to speak with a lawyer.”
She was charged with nine counts of fraud by uttering a false bank note, nine counts of forgery by altering a public record certificate, and two counts of grand theft between $750 and $5,000. All 20 counts are felonies.
Gordon, 47, had been in trouble on some earlier occasions. She was convicted of battery in 2004 and of retail petit theft in 2009.
She spent three weeks in jail in the 2009 case, but court records show she had not paid fines and other costs as of late last year. The 15-year-old case is considered delinquent, rather than closed.
In 2014, Gordon was charged with three counts of fraud by illegal use of credit cards and grand theft between $300 and $5,000, but prosecutors dropped the charges after a month.
Earlier this year, her dog attacked a pig and Gordon was adjudicated guilty of a civil infraction for failing to control an animal. She didn’t pay the civil fine of $273, so she’s being charged interest at the rate of 9.46 percent per year.
This time, she pleaded not guilty and has been in jail ever since her arrest.
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