A former Champaign man with a nearly two decade long documented history of criminal convictions was sentenced to prison this past week after admitting to altering a check stolen from a South Jacksonville resident.
Mark Ohrnstein, 56, was sentenced to 5 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on January 6 after pleading guilty on Nov. 25, 2025, to Class 3 felony forgery in Morgan County Circuit Court. He was also ordered to serve six months of Mandatory Supervised Release, pay a $500 fine, and received credit for four days already served in the Morgan County Jail.
According to charging documents, Ohrnstein altered a check drawn from a South Jacksonville resident’s bank account that had originally been made payable to an automobile dealership. Prosecutors said Ohrnstein added his own name as a payee and attempted to pass the altered check as legitimate.
Circuit Judge Chris Reif presided over the case and recommended that Ohrnstein be placed in an Illinois Department of Corrections facility that offers substance abuse treatment.
The conviction marks the latest chapter in a long-running cycle of addiction and criminal justice involvement for Ohrnstein. Previous reporting by The Champaign News-Gazette detailed his repeated encounters with law enforcement and struggles with substance abuse, describing a pattern of arrests, convictions, and returns to custody spanning multiple years. In 2019, Ohrnstein was sentenced to 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to burglary and identity theft charges in Champaign County. The Morgan County arrest and conviction marks Ohrnstein’s first encounter with law enforcement on the west side of the state.