Second Garbage Service employee charged

A second employee has been charged in thefts totaling thousands of dollars from Marathon Garbage Service.

Liordan Castaneda, 32 years of age who resides in Marathon, was charged Monday with 14 felony counts of grand theft and one misdemeanor count of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.

Former office manager Michelle Ludwig had been previously charged with 111 counts each of grand theft, forgery and uttering forged checks totaling $99,380.09. During the follow up investigation, information surfaced indicating Castaneda cashed 14 of the checks forged by and provided to him by Ludwig. The fourteen checks, cashed between April and July 2017 at various Marathon banks, totaled $8,128.77. When initially questioned about his part in the crime he gave Detective Rosary Ponce false information. Subsequent investigation revealed the falsehoods.

Based on this information, Detective Ponce obtained a warrant for Castaneda’s arrest. He was charged with 14 counts of grand theft and one count of obstruction and he was booked into jail on Tuesday. Bond is set at $22,500.

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