Poway

A 33-year-old Poway man who officials say misrepresented himself as a retired Navy officer in order to cash $40,000 worth of retirement checks over six years was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on 35 counts of fraud.

The grand jury charged James Canning II with making false statements to a government agency, making false claims against the government and falsely impersonating his father, James Canning, who retired from the Navy in 1956 and died in 1977.

Authorities said the scam was discovered in 1983 when Canning attempted to cash one of his father’s checks at a check-cashing agency.

“The Secret Service got onto it when someone at a check-cashing place didn’t believe his claim that he was retired from the Navy,” said Asst. U.S. Atty. Charles S. Crandall, whose office announced the indictment.

U.S. Atty. Peter Nunez said the charges are the latest in a series of prosecutions aimed at fraud in the Navy’s retirement program. One defendant pleaded guilty last month to similar charges involving $14,000 worth of Navy checks sent to a dead father; another defendant is awaiting trial on charges of altering and forging her dead father’s Navy retirement checks.

The charges against Canning each carry possible penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Crandall said.