Faith-Based Forgery Bust

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn priest has a new appreciation for interfaith dialogue — after a neighborhood patrol of religious Jews helped collar the check-forger targeting his church.

Quick-acting members of the Shomrim Patrol, a volunteer watchdog group of Orthodox Jews, tipped off cops to the location of the alleged serial forger who wrote three phony checks in the name of Our Lady of Refuge Church on Ocean Avenue in Kensington, police said.

“I’m grateful that Shomrim does what it does. In protecting their own community, they protect the whole community,” said the Roman Catholic church’s pastor, Rev. Michael Kerry.

Wajid Hussain, 23, allegedly tried to pass a bogus check for $871.45 at Dependable Check Cashing on Avenue J in Midwood.

The suspicious clerk joined the Shomrim in their patrol car and cruised around the neighborhood until he spotted Hussain going into a nearby Chase bank on Coney Island Avenue.

Hussain, 22, was charged with four counts of possession of a forged instrument and attempted petit larceny. He made bail and was released.