Hunting down bad check writers can be an expensive task, but officials hope a new program will help make them pay for the process.
Douglas County District Attorney Mark Jackson announced the formation of a bad check recovery unit on Wednesday.
Until this year, bad checks were pursued by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, who had a clerk who would track the checks and contact those who wrote them.
However, state law doesn't permit the sheriff to charge bad check writers a recovery fee and when budget cuts came along, the clerk's job was eliminated.
Jackson said state law does allow the district attorney's office to charge a fee to collect bad checks. The new unit will be funded by those fees.
Jackson described the program to members of the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce at their monthly lunch on Wednesday.
A bad check is one that was written with the intent to defraud, Jackson said.
Proof of intent includes writing a check on a closed account or on an account that doesn't have sufficient funds to cover the check.
The critical issue in pursuing, and if necessary, prosecuting bad check writers is ensuring those businesses who take checks get appropriate identification from the writer.
"The No. 1 issue is identification," he said. "In order to prosecute, we have to prove it happened here and that the person did it."
He warned the businesses there are several things their employees must do to ensure prosecutors have a case.
Under the law, businesses must present the check for payment in the normal course of business. If someone agreed to take a backdated check, then prosecutors can't pursue it as a criminal matter.
He pointed out that if a case is prosecuted, there's the chance a business person might have to testify in court.
"We ask that people cooperate with us," he said.
Writing a bad check is a category D felony with a sentence of up to five years in prison. Repeat offenders may be prosecuted as burglars and could face up to 10 years in prison.
Jackson said there will be checks that are too small for the district attorney's office to pursue.
"We do have limited resources, so we may not prosecute someone who has written a $20 check," he said. "But if that person bounces 20 $20 checks, then we'll go after them."
Jackson said there have been 26 bad check cases so far this year. He anticipates 500 cases a year, which is about a sixth of his office's total case load.
For more information, call 782-9800.
