Edgewater police arrested a man accused of forging documents related to a court dispute over a landlord-tenant matter.

The incident occurred in August 2015. According to Bergen County prosecutors, the 38-year-old suspect was facing eviction in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack NJ. The suspect wanted to postpone the court date, so he allegedly forged a chain of emails from his landlord in which the landlord agreed to a postponement. Moreover, the emails allegedly indicated that the landlord had granted permission for the suspect to remain in his home.

The suspect later presented the emails as evidence in superior court, prompting the judge to postpone the court proceedings. The suspect reportedly testified that the landlord had given both verbal permission and written permission for the suspect to stay in the residence going forward.

In addition to allegedly creating the fake email chain, the suspect allegedly forged the landlord’s electronic signature on the emails.

The Bergen County Superior Court judge believed that the documents might have been faked, so he filed a complaint with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutors then looked into the suspect and the evidence he offered in court.

Four months after authorities started their investigation, the suspect was placed under arrest at his residence in Edgewater, NJ. He was subsequently charged with several crimes, including uttering a forged document, wrongful impersonation, and perjury.

After being arrested and charged, the suspect was taken to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey. He was being held at the correctional facility in lieu of $25,000 bail.

To learn more about this case, check out the NJ.com article entitled “Renter Forged Emails from Landlord to Stave Off Eviction, Prosecutor Says.”