Bank robber could face prison after admitting to check forgery

A talkative Santa Rosa bank robber has been convicted of another five charges involving check-forgery, which could send him to prison in addition to his jail sentence in the bank heist.

Christopher Wenmoth, 40, a frequent correspondent with a Press Democrat reporter since his arrest on bank robbery charges last year, was convicted of a July 23 holdup of the Montgomery Village branch of US Bank.

He pleaded no contest, saying he was a gambling addict and was determined to fix his life.

Judge Arthur Andy Wick imposed a jail sentence which, because of credits for good behavior and time already served, would have run only through early June.

But in the meantime, authorities found evidence that showed Wenmoth forged more than two dozen checks of a former employer.

Thirty new criminal charges were filed that allege that in December of 2007 and January of 2008, he created and cashed bogus checks that drew $22,678 from his former employer, Center Point Inc., a drug and alcohol treatment program in San Rafael.

Wenmoth confessed the forgeries to a reporter in letters written from the Sonoma County jail.

“I used the money to pay gambling debts, and to finance gambling trips to Lake Tahoe,” Wenmoth wrote. “I want to tell the truth and put this matter behind me. At the same time, I do not want to go to prison, and hope that I can get a suspended sentence or county jail time.

“Still, I worry that I am trying the court’s patience with me playing the addiction card once again.”

Last week, Wenmoth entered no contest pleas to five of the charges, with prosecutors’ promise to drop the other 25 charges at the time of sentencing.

Judge Elliot Daum may order Wenmoth to serve six months in prison, concurrent with this jail time, and to repay $22,700 to West America Bank.

Prosecutors urged prison time for the initial bank robbery and likely will argue again for prison Wenmoth at his sentencing hearing on June 11.