Taras Isom, Jr.

In August of 2007, a local utility company contacted a Lexington customer regarding an unpaid bill.  The customer had mailed her regular payment, but the check never reached the utility company.  The check, which was for less than $50, was cashed instead at a local bank by Taras Renaldo Isom, Jr., age 22.  The utility company's name had been crossed off and replaced with Isom's name, and the check was endorsed with his driver's license number.
 
Isom is no stranger to the Lexington Police Department.  He had been arrested in September of 2006 by patrol officers, who found him in possession of mail matter -outgoing bills and preapproved credit cards - stolen from several residences in the Indian Hills neighborhood.  Further investigation revealed that Isom had also cashed a stolen check by scratching out the name on the payee line and writing in his own.  He pled guilty to Possession of Stolen Mail Matter and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, and in January of 2007 was sentenced to five years, but put on probation.
 
Isom pled guilty to Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument and Persistent Felony Offender just six months after being probated for the same type of crime.  He was sentenced to serve five years, consecutive to his earlier five-year probated sentence, and finally sent to the penitentiary.  His criminal record now totals three felony convictions, six misdemeanors, and one probation violation.