Man admits to faking kidnapping

BY STACI WILSON

State police in Gibson say a South Montrose man wrote three worthless checks totaling over $340,000 in an attempt to purchase a stone quarry business in Susquehanna County and even tried to get the business owner to believe he had been kidnapped when he couldn’t make good on the money.

Wayne ‘Cody’ Greene, 48, faces charges for theft and for writing bad checks in connection with the July 1 incident in Dimock Twp.

Greene waived his Monday, July 18 preliminary hearing in Montrose District Court. He is being held on $10,000 bail.

Stone business owner James O’Hara, of Meshoppen, reported Greene’s actions to the state police on July 14.

O’Hara told police Greene had been an employee of his since April and had expressed interest in buying the business. Over time, O’Hara had given Greene an advance of about $10,000 which was to be added to the purchase price for the quarry business, according to the affidavit.

Police said Greene wrote checks to the business owner on July 1 and told O’Hara that he was waiting for a settlement to come in.

According to the affidavit, O’Hara took the checks from Greene to the bank and learned they were no good.

On July 13 Greene told O’Hara he was going to a Merrill Lynch office in Binghamton, N.Y. the following day to get a certified check for the full amount he owed O’Hara.

On that day, according to the affidavit, O’Hara received a text message from Greene’s phone that “in essence said, ‘I snagged your boy don’t call the cops or go to his girlfriend or he dies we just want some money if you do he’s done we’re serious.’”

Police interviewed Greene on July 14. According to the affidavit, Greene provided a written statement which corroborated the allegations made by O’Hara, including the text message about being kidnapped.