PARIS, Maine — A Rumford man won’t serve time after forging nearly $12,000 in checks belonging to a man who hired him for handiwork.
David J. Hodgkins, 32, was sentenced in Oxford County Superior Court on Friday to three years for the forgery, all suspended, plus three years of probation, and was ordered to pay back $7,500 in restitution. His attorney, Ron Hoffman, said Hodgkins had already paid back much of what he stole from the victim.
On July 10, Hodgkins pleaded guilty to forgery, a Class B crime, for stealing the checkbook of a man who hired him for handiwork and writing himself nine checks totaling $11,700 between May 25 and July 6, 2011.
Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor earlier this month said a 75-year-old man had reported theft and cashing of checks to the Rumford Police Department in July 2011. He said he never had written the checks to Hodgkins, who was working on his roof. Rumford police interrogated Hodgkins, who confessed to the crime. He said he was sorry and wrote a long letter of apology to the victim.
I agree it was very pitiful and shameful what this man did to a senior, but as well he has paid”most” of the money back and wrote a letter of apology. Atleast not being in jail and on probation he will make money to pay back the rest of the stolen money and pay his restitution. Now who is to say it was a heartfelt apology, chances are likely it was not, but atleast he apologized. More than some do. If I was the victim or it was my grandparent I would feel justice was served. BUT this is just my opinion.
I hope the thief learned from this
He needs jail time and a beating for doing this, especially to a 75 year old. I don’t care how messed up his life has been, what drug “took hold” of him or what “bad crowd” he just fell in with, either.
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say i kicked you in the behind and you fell in a puddle and broke bones
would a letter of apology be enough?
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You must be a
blatherskite.
You are joking, right? So if I still money and get caught, the WORST that happens is I pay it back and write a letter? Well, that is an incentive to NOT steal.
So Bernie Madoff should have received what….probation?
……
I clicked on your link and do not see how it relates to this article at all. I also didn’t even find it comical. I can poke fun at myself and do enjoy humor but this wasn’t even funny at all. Calling us stupid? Grow up. Your just plain immature
lepage was right ..other states laugh at maine people
I don’t recall the Governor ever saying that other states laugh at Maine people? Are you laughing at Maine people? Sounds like you are?
Trying to follow you here and having a hard time? What is your problem with Maine people?
tryin to smarten youse people up, thats all
google ‘men fron maine’
The more maine promotes stupidity in themselves/ourselves the worse we look…some peeople really think we think lobster is spelled LOBSTAH I have seen it on restaurant signs and out of staters taking pictures of it I talked to one and she was like Mainers can not spell. They spell it like it sounds with the way “we pronounce”
i get a kick out of mainers saying box: “baaox”
Making fun of someone or a group of people for having an accent is horrible. You should be ashamed. Do you also make fun of people from the South, gays, inner city african americans? This is just wrong to me.
Do you laugh at the humor of Tim Samples? His accent is something else. I lived in Virginia for a few years, and they all thought my accent was very funny. I didn’t take offense, their accent is pretty funny too.
I do laugh and love Tim Sample’s humor. I just don’t think we should be called stupid for the we we sound or how we spell Lobster/Lobstah.
Now you sound silly. If you read what I wrote I was not making fun of anyone. I simply said we should spell words how they are spelled and not how they sound. such as LOBSTAH would be Lobster. I was stating other people make fun of that and photograph it when posted on signs. Re -read my post.
Ah yes, Massachusetts, the land of hopes and dreams……….not. It is amazing how uppity mass people are, yet I know droves of people in Maine who moved here from Mass……let me count the reasons…..
wow..so many cases of people stealing checks from people (along with other things), and getting no time in jail..WTH?? I need $$$ ..steal 12000 pay back 7500..better than going to the bank (sarcasm)
The article did not say all he had to pay back was 7500.00/// restitution means the damage he caused such as a television would not be considered new when the store had to take it back or the bank in losing money or what not…he will pay this man back in full according to the law and his sentence plus restitution of 7500.00
as he should, but jail time for it would be a good thing..
I respect your opinion but number one our jails are full of non violant offenders who could be working by court order and making money to pay restitution for their crimes and if that does not work , lock them up …atleast we tried to save us taxpayers the cost of housing them and got compensation for the victims. Which won’t happen with them in jail on our dime
as I respect yours..i just get very frustrated, having seen this happen first hand, and they basically get away with it over and over..maybe this is his first time..maybe he will learn..but I just dont believe in second chances for people who would do this to someone, especially at that age. ya dont mess with the old folks..its just wrong
Bottom line we need to save our jails for molesters and rapist
Good place for you then. Stay there.
Like they say, there are statistics…. (the link below ranks the top 5 states to live in. Newsflash, Mass didn’t make the top 5…….but Maine did.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/cnbc-best-states_n_1665251.html#slide=1211685
Preying on the elderly is as low as a child molester.
Amazing that with the amount of money he stole he only gets probation. Like embezzlements of town workers, it makes no sense. Yes, there should be jail time in my opinon.