Countywide : 14 Arrested in Crackdown on Bad Checks

Fourteen people suspected of writing bad checks were arrested Friday during the first day of a two-day roundup by the Ventura County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation.

Another nine suspects agreed to appear in court Monday on misdemeanor charges of writing checks without sufficient funds, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Vinse Gilliam.

Of those arrested, only James Reyes, 28, of Oxnard was charged with a felony. He allegedly wrote bad checks totaling $7,588, then refused to provide restitution to numerous victims, Gilliam said.

Other suspects had allegedly written bad checks in amounts of $178 to $1,430. The writing of any such check for more than $400 can be prosecuted as a felony.

Fifteen teams of investigators began serving more than 300 arrest warrants early Friday in cases in which $200,000 in restitution had been ordered but was never collected.

Those to be arrested all had been contacted by the district attorney’s office, by mail and by telephone, Gilliam said.

“We only use the arrest warrants as a last resort,” he said.

Friday’s effort brings to 53 the number of people arrested for writing bad checks in a 2 1/2-month push capped by this weekend’s crackdown, prosecutors said.

Those arrested can no longer be cleared of the criminal charges simply by paying the money they owe for the bad checks, Gilliam said. “Once a case goes to warrant, we will not accept restitution” in lieu of prosecution, he said.

The two-day effort is aimed at reducing a backlog of 671 bad-check arrest warrants that had never been served, according to the district attorney’s office.

The bad-check unit was created in 1986 by Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. Since then, it has collected and returned about $1.65 million to local merchants and others.

Bradbury said the program operates at no cost to taxpayers or the victims. The unit collects about $14,000 a month in fees from suspects, while program expenses have averaged about $11,730.

More than 500 cases in which the loss was substantial or restitution was withheld have been prosecuted, Bradbury said.