Update: Sewell to remain in his seat as mayor

Nevada Daily Mail

Sheldon Mayor Rob Sewell, 44, was arrested Friday evening on 21 counts alleging forgery of checks on the account of John Young.

In the wake of the allegations, Sewell's position and duties as mayor of Sheldon will remain unchanged, since the allegations are in no way connected to city business.

A statement from the Sheldon City Council said, "The charges do not involve any actions or duties of an elected official of the city. As such the city takes no position," on the matter, and is referring inquiries to the Vernon County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

According to unofficial online court records, Sewell posted a $5,000 cash-only bond on Monday, and an arraignment has been scheduled for 9 a.m., Sept. 10., in a Vernon County court.

According to a probable cause statement obtained by the Daily Mail on Monday, family members of the 97-year-old alleged victim, reported in January that they believed a total of more than $300,000 was received by Sewell from Young in the form of several checks, most of which were made out to Sewell, between April 2008 and December 2011; but court documents list charges relating to 21 checks written between April 2008 and August 2010, varying in amounts from $61 to $50,000 and totaling more than $150,000, according to calculations based on the list of individual charges.

Documents also note that Sewell obtained a power of attorney for John Young in February 2011, which was revoked in January 2012.

Copies of several checks written to Rob Sewell were obtained and on several of them the signatures did not appear to be the same, court documents say.

Investigators showed several checks to Young, a resident at Joe Clark Residential Care, in July; and Young indicated there seemed to be several inconsistencies in the checks.

For example, on check No. 7986, Young stated that he never printed the dollar amount out on any of the checks he had written; and on other checks, Young pointed out inconsistencies in the formation of the letters. Inconsistencies in the way dates were written on checks and in the way dollar amounts were written were cited as well, including Young's consistent use of an ampersand symbol in the dollar amount on checks he wrote prior to 2008 versus the word "and" having been used on checks written to Rob Sewell.

No attorney was listed for Sewell, who could not be reached on Monday.