Yuma County Attorney's Office offers bad check program

Even the most careful person or merchant will get a bad check once in a while. If you happen to get one, the Yuma County Attorney's Office wants you to know if you can't collect on it, their office is ready to help.

Deputy County Attorney John Tate said his office has had a program in place for many years to track down bad check writers, and if necessary prosecute them, in order to recover losses for their victims.

The problem, Tate said, is that people and merchants don't seem to know about it.

"We would definitely like to see more people and merchants using the program," Tate said. "It is a service that is available to anyone. We aren't going to turn anyone away, no matter what the amount is for the bad check."

Something else they may not know, said Raquel Lopez, bad check program coordinator, is that the county attorney's office does not charge for the program.

"I think a lot of merchants use some type of service like a collection agency, not knowing this is a free service that we provide," Lopez said. "If you want your money then you are going to want to use this program."

The Yuma County Attorney's office currently has 300 bad checks in its program that it hasn't filed misdemeanor charges on yet.

There are another 50 to 80 checks in the program that charges have been charged on, and another 100 check cases that warrants have been issued on for the bad check writer.

"Ninety nine point nine percent of the people who write a bad check we will never see in this program because they will make good on their checks," Tate said. "It's that 1 percent of the bad check writers who has no intent of making good on the check is the person we are going to see."

Lopez said once her office receives a bad check the person responsible for writing it has the choice of paying it off or facing criminal charges.

"Our objective is to collect on the check without having to file charges," Lopez said. "But if necessary, we will file charges."

Tate added that it is a good idea to pay off the check, because while the offense of issuing a bad check is a misdemeanor, it carries a sentence of up to six months in jail and up to a $4,500 fine.

And depending on the amount of the bad check, and the circumstances in which it was written, more serious felony charges such as fraud or theft could also be filed.

"It has some severe consequences if they are convicted, so it is in the bad check writer's best interest to get this resolved," Tate said.

In addition to paying the amount of the bad check, Lopez said the bad check writer will also have to pay a collection fee from the county attorney's office and any applicable bank charges.

"This is minimal compared to what you would have to pay if you went to court," Lopez said.

In explaining how the program works, Tate said a person or merchant has 12 days to begin the collection process once they have been notified the check is insufficient.

If you don't know how to begin the process Tate and Lopez said to bring the bad check to the county attorney's office and they will do it for you.

"If they have a bad check we can open a case on it and get to work on seeing if we can collect on it," Tate said. "We will send out a certified letter and if they don't respond, it is presumed they were notified. It is a method the law allows for the prosecution of these type of cases."

While most of the checks currently in the program are for lesser amounts, Tate said there are some that range between $1,000 and $3,500.

"You would not believe how many bad checks we get from pizza parlors," Tate said.

Tate explained that when a bad check writer receives notice of intent to collect and doesn't pay it becomes a crime.

Lopez added that her office tends to receive more bad checks toward the end of the year, especially around the holidays.

Last year the county attorney's office bad check program had 518 bad checks and Lopez expects her office to surpass that number this year.

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James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.