Consider this fair warning: If you’ve written a bad check and stand to be prosecuted for it, you’ve got until March 16 to clear all outstanding fines without being arrested.
If you’re a business owner looking for help collecting on a bad check, the Bad Check Unit at District Attorney Dewayne Richardson’s office stands ready to help you collect what you’re owed.
Richardson’s office sets aside this time each year to try and rectify cases involving bad checks, which, under Mississippi law, are punishable by up to three years in prison.
Richardson said it’s a major problem with which he has had personal experience.
“When I first came to the DA’s office, my family had owned a company for 25 years, and I didn’t know about this service,” Richardson said.
“Some worthless checks we were able to collect, and some people my father just allowed to not pay. As a business owner, that hurts.”
Richardson said the problem is pervasive in Leflore County, where over the years several defendants have been indicted on bad check charges and where several cases are currently active.
“We really get a large influx of checks turned into our office from Leflore County,” he said.
Many of those checks come from business owners who are familiar with the services of the Bad Check Unit, and some come from government entities trying to collect bad debt.
Richardson said that in October, his office presented the Washington County Tax Collector’s office with over $25,000 in bad check collections.
Richardson said many business owners, property owners collecting rent and individuals trying to collect payment for services are not aware of his office’s services, and this annual campaign is designed in part to raise awareness.
The ultimate goal is to help victims recover lost money. But the office is also set up to work with individuals who have issued bad checks – to allow them some time to make good and avoid a felony conviction.
“I have a strong commitment to making sure those who steal through bad checks are held accountable,” Richardson said in a press release, adding that each year his office indicts and prosecutes “several” worthless check offenders.
The press release continues:
“In order to avoid punishment, the Office of the District Attorney sends a ‘fair warning’ to all who have a bad check on file in our office. The deadline to clear all outstanding fines without being arrested is March 16, 2018.”
For more information on how the DA’s office can assist you or your business with collections or how to arrange payment on a bad check you have written, contact the Check Unit Director, Markeda Brown, at 662-378-2015, or email badcheckcollector@gmail.com.
More information is also available at the District Attorney’s website, www.msdeltada.com.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
