A Baltimore City employee was convicted Tuesday of stealing more than $5,000 from the Baltimore City War Memorial Commission.
District Judge Timothy Murphy sentenced Nikki Cooper, 35, of Glen Burnie, to a two-year suspended sentence after Cooper pleaded guilty to 20 forgeries and the theft.
Murphy ordered her to pay the money back.
Between August and December of 2007, Cooper took numerous checks from the commission, her place of employment, which operates the city’s war memorial. She then forged the endorsements on the checks and cashed them for a total of $5,325, according to police.
Baltimore City Inspector General Hilton Green contacted city police to report the internal theft, after Douglas Henley, the commission’s director, informed him of the crime, charging documents state.
“At no time did Cooper have signing authority for any checks for the War Memorial,” Detective Kelvin Corbin wrote in his charging document.
Cooper cashed 10 checks at Donald’s Place at 401 N. Montford Ave. and 11 checks at Lenny’s Direct Deposit at 2327 Pennsylvania Ave.
Ken Jans of Lenny’s told police that he knows Cooper as a customer who had two checks listed as “non sufficient funds,” the police report states.
Cooper told him she would make good on the checks, but then stopped taking his calls.
After she was caught, Cooper wrote a letter to Henley admitting she took the money, apologizing and pledging to repay the funds.
