Police Arrest Phony Check Passer; Teller Spots Man on Bank Circular

Cambridge police nabbed an habitual bad-check passer yesterday in the Harvard Trust Company.

Laurence P. Crowley, 25, walked into the bank just before its 2 p.m. closing time to cash a bad check. A teller recognized him from a warning sheet circulated to Massachusetts banks. He told Crowley to sit down for a minute and then went for the police.

Crowley, who goes under five aliases, has been passing hundreds of bad checks throughout the state, especially in the Boston area, according to police officials. They also stated that Crowley admitted to having made a living this way for at least five years.

Usually Crowley writes checks for about $100, officials said, but they did not divulge the amount of the check he tried to pass yesterday. Police are holding him without bail while all other banks involved are notified.