Arrests.
Kaleya N. Harris-Alleyne, 24, of the 6600 block of Kelly Drive, Norristown, allegedly met with a woman who provided her with checks to deposit in her account.
A Norristown woman has been accused of altering the amount and payee on a stolen check, causing $855 to be withdrawn from the victim’s bank account.
Kaleya N. Harris-Alleyne, 24, of the 6600 block of Kelly Drive, was charged Feb. 12 by Franconia Township detectives with felony counts of access device fraud and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, as well as misdemeanor charges of theft and receiving stolen property, according to charging documents.
On July 8, 2024, police met with the victim, a resident of Packham Court in the Telford section of the township, regarding theft and fraud of their American Heritage Credit Union checks.
The victim said they wrote a check for $55.25 to North Penn Water Authority and placed the check in the mailbox at the Telford-Souderton Post Office, police said.
After receiving a late notice from NPWA, the victim checked their bank account and discovered the check had been altered, including the recipient and amount, police said.
The check had been altered to be payable to Kaleya Harris-Allen for $855.25, police allege. Furthermore, the victim discovered an automated withdrawal to Honda for $471.88, police said.
American Heritage Credit Union confirmed to police that the check was deposited and cashed on July 5 at 1:27 p.m. via remotely or online through a Bancorp account, and not in person, police said.
On Aug. 2, police received a search warrant for account information from Bancorp, regarding the identity of their customer who deposited the altered check, according to the complaint. On Aug. 16, detectives received warrant results from Bancorp, which showed the account belonged to Harris-Alleyne, police allege.
The transaction was completed by Harris-Alleyne using a Chime account connected to Bancorp, police said.
On Aug. 20, police spoke with the defendant, who said she no longer had a Bancorp account, but remembered the check had been cashed, according to the affidavit. Harris-Alleyne was interviewed at Franconia Police Department and told police she met a woman on Instagram who was advertising she could help people get apartments by providing Social Security Numbers that are attached to people with good credit, according to the complaint.
Harris-Alleyne contacted the woman and used information that she provided to obtain a lease on an apartment a year ago, police said. She allegedly met up with the woman to purchase a fake auto insurance card because she could not afford insurance.
Harris-Alleyne said she noticed the same woman had advertised on Instagram for same-day Chime deposits into people’s accounts, police said. She was told that it was six days of work and she had to deposit checks into her account and then pay the woman half of the amount the check was written for, police said.
Harris-Alleyne said she met with the woman on three occasions in the county, and each time, the woman had a check with Harris-Alleyne’s name on it, according to the complaint. She would then open the Chime app on her phone and the woman would scan the check as a mobile deposit into Harris-Alleyne’s Chime account, police said.
About an hour later, the money would show up in her account and she would then send the woman half of the deposited money to an Apple Pay account, according to the affidavit.
Harris-Alleyne is free on $10,000 unsecured bail and has a preliminary hearing on April 2 at 11 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Adam T. Katzman.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
