Lower Burrell man accused of forging check from Wexford business

A Lower Burrell man who is serving probation for selling a fatal dose of drugs in 2018 is accused of stealing nearly $3,000 from a Richland business by altering and cashing a check he stole from its mailbox.

Northern Regional Police charged Donald Keith Lewandowski, 39, of the 100 block of Lewandowski Lane with two counts of forgery and counts of theft, receiving stolen property and access device fraud, which are all felonies.

He was charged by summons and ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 29 before District Judge Tom Swan.

Police wrote in a criminal complaint that the owner of Division Seven Inc. on Laurel Avenue reported that 22 checks made out to pay vendors were placed in a mailbox on Oct. 16 for pickup the following day by a U.S. Postal carrier.

The owner of the architectural metal fabricating company said four of the checks were flagged for fraud, including one for $2,780 that was originally written to pay a vendor.

A copy of the check that was returned from Mars Bank showed that the vendor’s name was removed and replaced with Lewandowski’s name before it was cashed, the complaint said.

The bank told police that the check was cashed at the Cranberry branch on Aug. 18 using an account that Lewandowski opened the previous day at the Heritage Creek branch in Mars, the complaint said.

Bank officials gave police security photos they say shows Lewandowski at the Mars branch opening the account and at the Cranberry branch the following day when the check was cashed.

Police said the security photos matched the picture on the drivers license Lewandowski presented when he opened the account, the complaint said.

Previous criminal conviction

In January 2022, Lewandowski was ordered to serve up to eight years on probation and three years of house arrest after pleading guilty to a felony charge of selling drugs that caused the 2017 fatal overdose of a childhood friend in New Kensington.

Police accused Lewandowski of buying fentanyl and heroin from a drug dealer and then selling it to Justin Yohe for $65. Yohe, 32, later was found dead in his Freeport Road home.

Lewandowski bought the drugs from Martez D. “Chico” Whitlow of New Kensington, who pleaded guilty in September 2021 to a charge of drug delivery resulting in death. He was sentenced to serve 5 to 10 years in prison.