Man Charged With Stealing More Than $102,000 in Money, Jewelry from Ex-girlfriend

A 52-year-old man will go to trial on charges of stealing $88,300 in cash and $14,000 in jewelry from his former girlfriend in Pine Township over a 19-month period, according to court documents.

Patrick Joseph Rock, of Allison Park, will stand trial in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. He waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge William K. Wagner; a formal arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 29.

Rock is charged with felony counts of theft and receiving stolen property and a misdemeanor count of forgery.

Citizens Bank branch manager called  police in early December and said she wanted to file a fraud report on behalf of a bank customer, the criminal complaint states.

The bank customer, who lives in Wexford, told officers that "her now ex-live-in boyfriend, Patrick Rock, of (more than) six years, had stolen 13 of her Citizens Bank blank checks from her house starting back on Dec. 7, 2009, to the last one on July 1, 2011, totalling $43,600. All the checks were made out to Patrick Rock and (the woman's) signature had been forged on all the checks," according to court documents.

The woman told police that Rock never had her permission to use or sign her checks, the police criminal complaint states.

When Northern Regional Detective Jeffrey Hoffman interviewed him, Rock admitted taking the checks and said there were more that the woman did not know about, the police report stated.

Informed that the stolen checks totaled $43,600, Rock told the detective that the amount could be greater, according to the criminal complaint.

"Rock stated that he used the money to pay for some home repairs to the house he and (the woman) were living in and also paid for a vacation home for a week for (him) and (the woman)," stated court papers.

In late December, police reports showed the new total of all checks and ATM usage by Rock totaled $88,323.51, the criminal complaint states. The value of jewelry taken was $14,000.