Lawrence County Sheriff Jody Dotson has released the photos of the two suspects in a check forgery case that targeted Sloan Hendrix School.
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office CID (Criminal Investigation Division) identified a pattern of time and location in the cashing of forged checks. Lawrence County Detectives advised the Independence County Sheriff’s Office of the pattern and predicted when and where the suspects may attempt to cash other checks, the information was correct and suspect Terry Smith showed up at the location and was arrested by the Independence County Sheriff’s Office for attempting to cash another check for $6849.11 . To date $17,707.19 in forged checks have been cashed by Citizen’s Bank of Batesville on the Sloan Hendrix account.
Independence County has issued a warrant for the second suspect in the scheme identified as Melvin Malone of Memphis. Both suspects who provided identification when cashing the checks were also identified by bank employees.
Suspect Terry Smith and suspect Melvin Malone are said to be homeless individuals from Memphis who were approached by a person know only as “Card” to use their identification in order to cash the checks. The suspects were transported by “Card” to the Batesville area to cash the checks and paid $100.00.
Sheriff Dotson stated the U.S. Secret Service is investigating other simular crimes in the Batesville area. For more information on the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, visit their site at www.lawrencecountysheriffsoffice.com .