Driver charged with forgery

An Owensburg driver accused of using a marker to alter the expiration date on a license plate sticker has been charged with forgery, plus theft, and driving while suspended.

Steven Alfred Jacob

Steven Alfred Jacob, 55, of Owensburg, was arrested by Senior Trooper Jarrod Lents of the Indiana State Police Jasper Post on Wednesday, November 7.

Trooper Lents was on duty that morning, leaving a gas station on State Road 58 just east of US 231, when a white Chevrolet S10, eastbound on SR 58, drove by and it appeared a passenger was not wearing a seatbelt.

Lents caught up to the truck on Scotland Road and when the truck turned south on Pleasant Lane, he conducted a traffic stop. The truck pulled over in a church parking lot.

Jacob was the driver, with two passengers on board.

Trooper Lents reported when he walked to the truck, he saw someone had attempted to turn a “17” expiration year on the plate’s sticker into an “18” with a marker. The driver allegedly admitted he had marked the plate after muttering something about not being able to afford the renewal.

None of the three individuals had been wearing a seatbelt and Lents said they did not deny this.

The occupants were asked to step out of the truck, were checked for weapons and other contraband, and the truck was also searched. The trooper noted the truck was crammed full of garbage and random objects, including a .22 rifle and numerous knives.

Jacob was detained and the two passengers and the truck were released from the scene. One of the passengers called a family member to come pick them up along with the truck but not before the trooper had taken the license plate off the truck for evidence.

Once he had the plate in hand, he reported there was another partial expiration sticker under the top sticker and the partial sticker belonged to a different license plate.

When records were checked, Trooper Lents learned the partial sticker belonged to a license plate that was reported as stolen in Evansville in 2017 and that Jacob’s driver’s license was suspended with three suspensions.

Jacob was booked in to the Greene County Jail where his bond was set at $12,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. As of Wednesday, November 14, he had not yet posted bond.

Jacob was scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing this week to face criminal charges of:  

• Forgery, a Level 6 felony,

• Theft, a Class A misdemeanor, and

• Driving while suspended – a knowing violation with a prior conviction, a Class A misdemeanor.