REYNOLDSVILLE BOROUGH (EYT) – A Reynoldsville couple is facing forgery and related charges after they allegedly provided forged doctor’s excuses to their children’s school.
According to court documents, the Reynoldsville Borough Police Department filed the following criminal charges against 39-year-old Cherie Ama Glenn and 41-year-old James C. Reeseman, both of Reynoldsville:
– Forgery – Unauthorized Act in Writing, Misdemeanor 1 (13 counts)
– Tamper Records or ID – Writing, Misdemeanor 1 (13 counts)
According to a criminal complaint, on March 4, Chief Troy Bell of the Reynoldsville Borough Police Department was requested to respond to C.G. Johnson Elementary School in Reynoldsville for a report of fraud.
Bell met the school truancy officer who reported that two juveniles had multiple reports of absences, and their parents, Cherie Glenn and James Reeseman, had turned in forged excuses for the absences.
According to the complaint, the truancy officer called Penn Highlands Healthcare and was advised the children had not been provided an excuse since May of 2018.
Copies of the excuses were provided to Bell, including excuses for Dec. 11, 2018, Jan. 4, 2019, Jan. 9, 2019, Jan. 11, 2019, and Jan. 15, 2019. The excuses were either dropped off at the school or provided by e-mail, according to the complaint.
Contact was made with Reeseman by phone, and he agreed to meet with Bell. Reeseman made the statement there were doctor’s excuses for all of the juveniles’ absences and further stated he took the children to both Med Express and Q Care, according to the complaint.
The complaint states that Reeseman did not meet with Bell at the agreed time.
On March 5, Bell met with a Physician’s Assistant (PA) from Q Care. The PA said she was familiar with the situation, as she had been contacted about the excuses and the children missing school.
When provided with copies of the excuses, she confirmed she did not provide any of them to the family and noted she had not seen one of the juveniles since 2017, and neither of the juveniles had been seen at or provided an excuse by Q Care since May of 2018, the complaint indicates.
The PA explained the system that they use to generate work or school excuses and said that she believes Reeseman and Glenn must have a copy of an old excuse they are editing and providing to the school.
She also noted that one of the excuses used a different date format that she uses, and another said “can return to work” rather than “school.”
She also noted Reeseman was provided with a work excuse in March of 2018, which they could be using and editing, according to the complaint.
Bell visited the school again on March 6 and was provided three more excuses that were turned in to the school by Glenn in the past.
According to the complaint, all three excuses were for dates that did not include a visit to Q Care.
The complaint notes Glenn was responsible for handing in 11 of the excuses and Reeseman was responsible for handing in two of the excuses, based on the e-mails in which the excuses were being provided.
Glenn and Reeseman were separately interviewed on March 15.
According to the complaint, both Reeseman and Glenn denied falsifying the excuses. Reeseman reported the excuses were provided to him by Glenn, while Glenn stated she “had no idea where they came from” because Reeseman handled them. Glenn also told police she would not know how to create a document to falsify the excuses.
Based on the investigation, charges were filed through Magisterial District Judge David B. Inzana’s office against both Reeseman and Glenn on Tuesday, March 19.
Preliminary hearings are scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, April 25, with Inzana presiding.
Read more: http://www.explorejeffersonpa.com/.