ASHLAND, Ore. — A former editor of The Ashland Daily Tidings has been indicted on 23 felony theft and forgery counts, stemming from a string of failed businesses downtown, authorities said Friday.

Andrew Scot Bolsinger was indicted Thursday by a Jackson County grand jury on nine counts of aggravated first-degree theft, two counts of first-degree theft, nine counts of first-degree forgery and three counts of identity theft. The grand jury also indicted his wife, Lori Bolsinger, on one count of felony forgery and one county of felony theft.

The charges announced Friday accuse Scot Bolsinger of stealing identities of former employees and former friends-turned-investors to forge loan documents to steal money from banks, lending companies and private investors. Court documents say the alleged crimes occurred in 2006 and 2007.

“The losses due to theft and forgery exceed $200,000,” Jackson County Deputy District Attorney Rachel Bridges said.

Bolsinger, 42, is serving a prison sentence of nearly two years after pleading guilty in July to sex-abuse charges involving a 16-year-old girl he taught at a Salem-area Christian school in 2000.

Bolsinger, who had resumed a journalism career in Harrisonburg, Va., after quitting the Salem school, returned to Oregon in 2003 and became editor of the Ashland paper. He was fired after his February 2008 indictment on the sex-abuse charges.

For much of last year, Ashland police investigated the Bolsingers concerning a string of failed downtown businesses, including Lithia Stationery, Pipon’s restaurant, The Siskiyou Pub and The Main Source copy shop.

The probe began after an investigation by the Medford Mail Tribune, a sister publication to The Daily Tidings, found that the Bolsingers and those businesses racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to former employees, suppliers, creditors and investors over a three-year period.

Lori Bolsinger, 43, could not be located Friday for comment, the Mail Tribune said.

No appearance date has been set for either Bolsinger in the case.