The Platteville man facing felony theft and forgery charges in Walworth and Dane counties faces an additional felony theft charge in Crawford County.
Larry D. Kallembach, 56, 1536 County B, made his first appearance in Crawford County Circuit Court in Prairie du Chien Monday afternoon on a charge of theft in a business setting of $5,000 to $10,000.
The charge was filed Dec. 5 for an incident that took place Sept. 10, according to court records.
Kallembach was in the Crawford County Jail as of earlier this week, according to court records.
Bench warrants were issued for Kallembach last week after he failed to appear in court on Walworth and Grant County charges, according to court records.
Kallembach is charged in Walworth County with theft by false representation of more than $10,000 and forgery — uttering.
Kallembach is also charged in Grant County with resisting or obstructing an officer, a misdemeanor. The resisting charge was filed when a Grant County sheriff’s deputy tried to serve a warrant on Kallembach, according to the sheriff’s department.
Kallembach is also charged in Dane County with an additional forgery — uttering charge. A status conference in Dane County Circuit Court in Madison is set for Monday at 1:30 p.m.
The Walworth County criminal complaint alleges that Kallembach purchased seven tractors — 1949, 1956, 1959 and 1965 John Deeres, a 1944 Oliver, a 1951 International Farmall, and a 1957 Ford tractor — from Mecum Auctions in Walworth at an auction in Davenport, Iowa, in October, paying for the tractors with a $39,250 check. The tractors were delivered to Kallembach Nov. 1, according to the criminal complaint.
Mecum’s bank told the auction service Nov. 4 that the check was fraudulent, and Mecum had to pay the tractors’ original sellers, according to the criminal complaint.
Kallembach told investigators he purchased the tractors “by using a Federal Reserve Bank check which he writes out of his social security signature bank,” and not from an actual bank, the criminal complaint said. Kallembach told investigators “he kept writing checks from his social security card/account because they never came back as having non-sufficient funds.”
In the Dane County charge, Kallembach is accused of purchasing a Macbook laptop computer from a Madison computer store July 18 with a $1,916.91 check from FSB ATL Bank in Atlanta. The store’s bank returned the check as coming from a nonexistent bank account, according to the criminal complaint.
The Federal Reserve has 12 regional banks, including in Atlanta. The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas has what it calls a “branch” in San Antonio.
The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the U.S., and is one of three agencies that regulates federally chartered banks. The Federal Reserve lends money to other banks and provides services to financial institutions.
The maximum sentence for the forgery charges is six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The maximum sentence for each felony theft charge is 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
