A 36-year-old Ocala man was arrested after he cashed a fraudulent check at a Cash Kwik in Belleview.
On Friday, January 21 at around 12 p.m., a Belleview Police Department corporal responded to the Cash Kwik located at 5827 SE Abshier Boulevard in reference to an incident of fraud.
Upon arrival, a female employee at the store told the corporal that Austin Thomas Southworth had cashed a fraudulent check on Sunday, January 9.
The employee stated that the $253.65 check had a ‘stop payment order’ placed on it, and the store was now required to pay a $35 fee since the check had been cashed.
According to the BPD report, the store employee had called the issuing company for the check, and the employee was advised that the check had been mailed to Southworth.
Prior to receiving the check in the mail, Southworth allegedly went to the issuing company’s office and stated that “he needed his check now because he was going to be arrested.” The issuing company provided another check to Southworth and informed him that the mailed check could not be cashed due to a ‘stop payment order.’
The store employee had personally cashed the check for Southworth on January 9, and she gave the corporal a copy of Southworth’s check, driver’s license, and the store’s form which had his thumbprint on it.
On Thursday, January 27 at 11:15 p.m., Southworth was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $3,000 bond. He is facing a felony charge for cashing a check with the intent to defraud along with a misdemeanor charge for petit theft.
A court date has been scheduled on Tuesday, March 1 at 9 a.m., according to jail records.
Jail records also indicate that Southworth has several upcoming court dates regarding unrelated incidents.
Those additional court dates are on Tuesday, February 22 at 9 a.m. (for felony charges that include burglary of a dwelling, grand theft of a motor vehicle, possession of PCP, and possession of drug paraphernalia) and Thursday, March 3 at 8 a.m. (for misdemeanor charges that include giving a false name to a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence).