WESTPORT — A New Jersey man is the latest suspect charged in a “check-washing” scheme, allegedly stealing a local woman’s check and changing the details for an illicit profit of more than $7,000, before depositing it in his bank account earlier this year.

Debyi Capellan-Paulino, 26, of North Brunswick, N.J., was charged Dec. 8 with second-degree forgery, third-degree larceny and fraudulent use of an ATM in connection with the case.

Police issued a warning about the rise of “check-washing” crimes in Westport last February, and renewed that warning October.

And over the course of the year, there have been repeated instances of the crime, with many of the “washed” checks stolen from either residential mailboxes and or U.S. Postal Service blue boxes.

Police began investigating this case last Jan. 1 when a local woman reported that a check she mailed via a Postal Service box apparently had been stolen and the details changed from the initial $150 to $7,168. It then was deposited into an unrecognized TD bank account.

A police detective was issued a warrant to secure details about the bank account in question, leading to the identification of the account holder as Capellan-Paulino, according to the report.

The detective also secured access to surveillance video at the ATM that Capellan-Paulino used to deposit the forged check, police said.

An arrest warrant subsequently was issued for Capellan-Paulino’s extradition back to Westport, and on Nov. 26, police in Franklin Township, N.J., notified Westport police that he had been detained in that community after a traffic stop.

On Dec. 8, Westport police took Capellan-Paulino into custody at the Somerset County Correctional Center in New Jersey, and brought him back to town to face formal charges.

Capellan-Paulino was held overnight on $100,000 bond, and arraigned the next day at state Superior Court in Stamford.