Glen Schachtschneider, alleged victim of theft, spent about three and a half hours on the stand Nov. 7 in the Okanogan County Superior Court trial of Brian Douglas Ellis.
     Ellis, Omak, is charged with three counts of first-degree theft. He is accused of taking more than $25,000 from Schachtschneider.
     Opening statements in the trial were made the afternoon of Nov. 6 after a morning spent selecting a jury.
     Schachtschneider testified that Ellis filled out blank but signed checks for himself and personal billing agencies.
     For the first hour and a half, deputy prosecutor Felicia Chandler asked Schachtschneider questions regarding 30 checks he had signed, but for which he had not filled out the remaining information. Schachtschneider testified that Ellis filled out the remaining amounts.
     The 30 checks were compared to Schachtschneider's check register. In what Schachtschneider identified as Ellis' handwriting, 28 of the 30 entries in the register were either missing, voided or marked down for much lower amounts from what was written on the checks, according to testimony.
     Schachtschneider said Ellis had asked for money for the 28 checks, but in lower amounts, such as $25 to $35, but the checks had been written for between $225 and $850 each.
     The first two checks, written for $2,000 and $1,537, had been loans to Ellis written in April 2006, but Ellis has not yet repaid them, Schachtschneider testified.
     Later, Schachtschneider also testified that for six months, beginning in September 2006, he did not received his bank statements. In September 2006, Schachtschneider said he had given Ellis his post office box key to Ellis to check his mail while he was visiting his daughter. When Schachtschneider returned, Ellis told him he had lost the key, the Schachtschneider testified.
     When defense attorney Mike Lynch began to cross-examine, Schachtschneider testified that over the years, he had loaned Ellis $10,000 that had not been repaid. Schachtschneider also had co-signed on two loans for trucks that Ellis purchased, but that Schachtschneider had not made any payments on.
     Lynch also had Schachtschneider review his check register from 2005 until January 2007 to show that 73 checks were missing from the register, at least three of which had been to the order of Ellis.
     After the lunch break, Lynch continued to cross-examine Schachtschneider and showed eight copies of checks Schachtschneider had signed, pay to the order of Ellis or his personal billing agencies. Nearly all those checks were recorded accurately in the check register, according to Schachtschneider's testimony.
     Chandler questioned Schachtschneider again and asked if he had authorized any of the amounts for the checks presented by the defense, to which he answered no.
     Lynch asked if Schachtschneider would have seen his register and noted the amounts, to which Schachtschneider replied, yes, he always checked his register and compared it with his bank statements.
     When Chandler later asked if Ellis ever paid back his loans, Schachtschneider said no.
     Lynch asked why he would keep loaning money if Ellis never paid him back, even loans from five years ago.
     Schachtschneider said he wanted to "be good to him," and help Ellis out and expected that some day Ellis would pay him back.
     Later, branch manager Dorothy Eddy for Coulee Dam Credit Union took the stand. Ellis and his wife, Rebecka, had been banking there during the alleged thefts from Schachtschneider.
     She testified that Ellis had made multiple deposits after low balances on his running statements. Statements from February 2006 through February 2007 were submitted as evidence.
     The deposits coincided with dates of Schachtschneider's checks in question.
     Later, Okanogan County Sheriff's Office detective Mike Murray testified about his investigation of this case, which he started March 26, 2007. He noted the discrepancies in the checks and the register.
     He also told about his interview with Ellis in April 2007 regarding the case. Ellis was not under arrest, and had been advised of his rights, but chose to speak to Murray, he said.
     Murray testified that Ellis told him the last checks in question written February 26, 2007 were for his own bills, but that he intended to pay Schachtschneider back. He also provided receipts for having paid Schachtschneider's bills for him, as he had originally agreed.
     However, Murray testified that Ellis said he did not recall the check written that day for $856 to his personal account, except to say that it had been voided.
     Murray said Ellis then told him that he would not find anything illegal in his dealings with Schachtschneider.