Watertown Scam Artist Arrested in Belmont for Check Scam

A Watertown man with a history of check fraud and his female partner were arrested by officers Tuesday, Sept. 6, as they attempted to run their scam at the .

Christopher MacNeil, 25, and Denise Melanson, 41, both of 15 Highland Ave. in Watertown, were booked on several offenses after MacNeil was arrested at a Belmont Savings branch for a scheme that drained the bank account of a Belmont resident of $12,000.

MacNeil was booked on uttering a forged check, larceny by check and possession of stolen goods. Melanson was booked on the utterance of false checks and attempting to commit a crime.

Police learned of MacNeil when a Belmont Savings Bank customer told police on Sept. 2 that he suspected someone was cashing checks using his name without his permission.

The bank and police determined that MacNeil somehow got a hold of the victims checks and was cashing checks for $1,000 to $2,000 at different branches in Belmont and Watertown over the past weeks.

It quickly became clear that MacNeil – who has outstanding criminal complaints for the same offenses – was the likely suspect and Belmont Police added their own warrant against the Watertown resident.

Just after noon Tuesday, Belmont Police discovered that MacNeil was at the Belmont Savings branch at 277 Trapelo Road attempting to cash another check from the victim's account. Police confronted MacNeil and arrested him.

Police learned from witnesses that a woman driving a white Jeep Cherokee dropped off MacNeil at the branch. Belmont Police stopped the vehicle at the corner of Belmont and Common streets where they arrested Melanson.

His arrest is not the first on stolen check charges for the young Watertown man. MacNeil was arrested by Waltham Police in July 2009 for receiving a stolen motor vehicle, uttering false checks, forgery by check, larceny by check over $250 and larceny over $250.

In March of that year, he was arrested in Salem and charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, following a call to police that a man who stole a car was back on the property with the car he stole, according to the Salem News.