A box of checks sent to the wrong address turned up in the wrong hands, Butler police said.

The ill-delivered checks ended up illegally funding the purchase of two cars, gas and parts for the cars, and even the license plate and title transfer of one of the cars.

Ronald D. Butler Jr., 53, of Butler allegedly forged still other checks for thousands in cash, police said.

Police on Sunday charged Butler with 12 counts of forgery and theft by deception as well as conspiracy.

Butler’s alleged accomplice, Dale A. Carothers, 48, of Butler, is charged with theft by deception, theft of lost or misplaced property and conspiracy, police said.

Butler has been in the Butler County Prison on $25,000 bail since Tuesday when state police arrested him for allegedly buying a car in the Fenelton area with a forged check.

The city police investigation began Jan. 7 when Kittanning police notified them that Butler in December bought a 1998 Dodge Neon from a Kittanning woman with an allegedly stolen check, a Butler police report said.

Police tracked down the owner of the checks, a 23-year-old city man. He told police that in early December he ordered a box of checks from his bank.

When the checks never arrived, he notified the bank, which informed him the checks had been mailed to the wrong home on West North Street.

The owner canceled the checks; however, by then, a dozen or more checks had been used.

Police suspect Butler on Dec. 15 bought the Neon for $1,000. Between mid-December and Jan. 12, he allegedly forged numerous checks to buy other items and make cash advances to himself.

In all, police said, he forged more than $6,000 in checks.

But during their investigation, city police learned from state police that Butler had allegedly forged a check from the same victim to buy another car.

That car, a 1998 Mercury Tracer, was purchased Jan. 2 at Weichey’s Used Cars in Clearfield Township, state police said.

City police last week interviewed Butler, who allegedly admitted his role and implicated Carothers, investigators said.

He told police that Carothers in December gave him a box of checks that was delivered to Carothers’ home by mistake.

The two, according to the police report, made a deal: “Carothers would drive Butler to different locations and Butler would cash the checks and Carothers would take a percentage of the money.”

Police said one of the checks that Butler allegedly forged was used to buy four winter tires for Carothers’ pickup truck.