FRANKLIN BOROUGH POLICE DEPT.

Phillip B. Dressner, 47, of Franklin was charged with more than 11 counts of bad checks and theft by deception after police took a report of activity taking place in the borough.

Police said the complainant — Lakeland Bank — alleged that a resident has been conducting fraudulent activity, specifically by taking personal checks from closed accounts, depositing them, and then withdrawing the currency before the checks cleared before the bank was able to determine the fraud source. Then the accounts were closed.

Lakeland Bank reported that the suspect had attempted to withdraw over $4,500 between Dec. 23, 2016, and Jan. 4, 2016, from accounts he knew were closed.

Dressner is alleged to have taken blank checks, from closed accounts, and from various local financial institutions, and made them payable to cash or himself. He is then alleged to have deposited them electronically and in person at the Lakeland Bank in Franklin. Dressner then allegedly attempted to withdraw the non-existent currency from the account before the Lakeland Bank was able to determine that the accounts where the funds were supposed to be withdrawn from did not exist.

He was issued a summons and then released pending an appearance in Sussex County Superior Court.