ALACHUA COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – Alachua and Gainesville Police Departments say a man went on a spending spree using multiple fraudulent checks to purchase items worth thousands of dollars at businesses in Gainesville and Alachua.
According to the Alachua and Gainesville Police Departments (APD & GPD), Carsen Quackenbush purchased an ATV priced at around $21,000 from a business in Alachua on July 3. Later, an employee went to cash the check and learned it was fraudulent.
APD detectives began to investigate and discovered that Quackenbush was involved in two similar cases being investigated by GPD.
According to GPD, on June 29, Quackenbush used a fraudulent check to purchase a $9,000 trailer in Gainesville. A day later, he allegedly returned and purchased another trailer priced at $12,081. On the same day, they say Quackenbush went to another business and purchased a UTV worth $20,826.
Detectives identified him as the suspect in all of the cases from his driver’s license he presented to verify the checks.
During the investigation, APD detectives say they were contacted by a business in Ocala who told them a member of the Quackenbush family was trying to purchase a jet ski and trailer with a cashier’s check.
APD obtained a warrant for the arrest of Carsen Quakenbush with a $75,000 bond. He was arrested in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on unrelated charges on Aug. 1. He was then transported and booked into the Alachua County Jail for both the APD and GPD cases.
He now faces a slew of charges as follows:
Gainesville Police Department
- one count for check fraud
- two counts of grand theft for less than $20,000
- one count of fraudulently obtaining property under $20,000
- two counts of uttering a false check
- one grand theft for less than $10,000
- one count for insufficient funds fraud
Alachua Police Department
- one count of grand theft for less than $20,000
- one count of uttering a false check
- one count of fraudulently obtaining property under $20,000
- one count of check forgery