By Jim Clark

Police were dispatched to the All Checks Cashed outlet in Union Square last Wednesday morning on reports of a larceny from a person.

Upon arrival, officers met with the victim of the larceny, a woman who was reportedly badly shaken up by the incident and was having trouble breathing. She was being tended to and comforted by employees and patrons of the establishment. She was taking oxygen from tanks that she had brought with her to the location.

The victim reportedly told police that she was conducting her regular monthly business at the establishment, paying bills, getting a money order to pay her rent and withdrawing some cash for personal use.

The money order and cash was placed in a plain white envelope for the victim, who reportedly set it down on the counter as she looked for her keys in her pocketbook.

According to the victim, she absent-mindedly left the envelope on the counter as she left to go next door to a neighboring market. When she realized that she left the envelope behind she immediately returned to All Checks Cashed to look for it, but it was no longer on the counter. She recalled that a man was standing in line waiting for service as she conducted her earlier business, but now both he and the envelope were gone.

The cashier called 911 for police assistance, as well as calling the cell phone number of the man who was suspected of taking the envelope. The man in question, Timothy Jones, had furnished his name and contact information while cashing a check earlier.

When the cashier called the number Jones supplied, the man who answered said that it was a wrong number and the call was terminated. The cashier reportedly told police that the voice on the phone sounded the same as Jones’, which she had heard earlier as he cashed the check.

The cashier reportedly called Jones again and told him that she was certain he had taken the envelope and was going to report the incident to the police. Jones reportedly denied taking the envelope, and did not claim that the cashier dialed a wrong number. Again, he discontinued the call.

The responding police officers reviewed surveillance video of the incident and reportedly observed Jones scoop up the envelope and leave the area after the victim went next door.

As the officers radioed information about the incident in, another officer reported that a man fitting Jones’ description approached him and turned over the envelope, claiming that he had found it.

He reportedly told the officer, “I guess there’s still some honest people in the world.”

Jones was subsequently located and placed under arrest for larceny of a person over 65.