EM man accused of financially exploiting his grandmother

An East Moline man is charged with forging checks in his grandmother's name, exploiting her out of several thousand dollars.

During the last month, Christian M. Lannan, 19, is accused of writing more than $10,000 in checks to himself, forging the signature of his 74-year-old grandmother and cashing the checks, according to charges filed this week.

East Moline Police Lt. Darren Gault said officers were called about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday to Triumph Community Bank, 701 Avenue of the Cities, for a report of a suspicious person cashing checks.

Through further investigation, police determined Mr. Lannan allegedly took the checks from his grandmother and cashed them for "large amounts of money," Lt. Gault said.

Mr. Lannan was arrested and made an initial appearance the same day in Rock Island County Circuit Court.

He is charged with financial exploitation of an elderly person. The Class 2 felony alleges he "knowingly and illegally" used assets or resources of his grandmother, with whom he held a "position of trust."

He also faces four counts of Class 3 felony forgery, alleging he cashed the fraudulent checks on several occasions between Jan. 1 and Wednesday.

Lt. Gault said police recovered some of the funds, and the case remained under investigation.

Mr. Lannan is held on a $75,000 bond and must post at least 10 percent -- or $7,500 -- to be released.

However, a judge's order signed Thursday prohibits him from posting bond before a hearing is held to determine the source of money he may use to bond out.

The order was granted on a motion filed by Assistant State's Attorney Justin Umlah, who wrote that Mr. Lannan also faces charges in two other pending felony cases.

Those charges accuse Mr. Lannan of possessing cannabis, with the intent to deliver, on two different dates and also of possessing less than 15 grams of a substance containing Alprazolam.

Mr. Lannan had obtained thousands of dollars by "means of deception" and "admitted to moving tens of thousands of dollars of narcotics," Mr. Umlah wrote in the motion.

He added that, according to police, Mr. Lannan was not employed and had "no legitimate source of currency" to use as bond.

Mr. Lannan is represented by the Rock Island County public defender's office and is scheduled for a Feb. 23 preliminary hearing in the forgery case.

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EM man accused of financially exploiting his grandmother