$28K Stolen In McDonald's Payroll Fraud In Falls Twp.

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA —Two township men have been charged in an alleged scam in which they forged and altered payroll records at the McDonald's on West Trenton Avenue.

Falls Township Police said their investigation began when the operator of the fast food restaurant in the township's Morrisville section noticed discrepancies in the payroll earlier this year when checks appeared to have been cashed before their official issue dates.

Romual Marquis Augustin, 19, and Alterrah Razhon Brown were charged after the investigation found that 36 checks issued between May 26, 2023, and Feb. 2 were altered to include watermarks—a security feature not used by the payroll company, police said.

The two Falls Township men were both charged with theft, conspiracy to commit theft, attempted theft, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, and attempted forgery.

Police said about half of the checks were issued directly to Augustin.

Some of the checks were legitimate and later modified to show higher payment amounts while other checks were made out to people unknown to the fast food restaurant operator, police said.

The fraudulent activity amounted to a total of $28,627.31 stolen from the business operator’s account, with a financial impact of $19,871.45 after accounting for some partially authorized funds, the criminal complaint obtained by Patch stated.

Surveillance footage from ATMs in the area helped identify Augustin and Brown as the individuals depositing the checks. They attempted to deposit additional fraudulent checks earlier this year, but their accounts were flagged for suspicious activity, police said.