Man arrested for check fraud total close to $46K, deputies say

Man accused of check-cashing scheme

Pike County deputies arrested a man who investigators said wrote fraudulent checks and then deposited into various bank accounts.

PIKE COUNTY, Ga. - Deputies have made an arrest in a check cashing scheme that the Pike County Sheriff's Office said victimized a local business.

Patrick Smith, 27, of Atlanta, was charged with thirteen counts of identity fraud.

Patrick Smith (Pike County Sheriff's Office)

Investigators said Smith wrote fraudulent checks in the amount totaling $45,850 and then deposited into various bank accounts. The money would then be withdrawn from the accounts before banks would become alerted to the fraud.

"It will take some time for investigators to sift through all of the recovered documents. Numerous checks and debit cards were recovered from Smith at the time of his arrest," the Pike County Sheriffs’ Office wrote in a statement.