Cold Economy = Hot Checks

The owner of Pope's Grocery in Robertsdale says in just one day, her customers wrote over 250 dollars worth of bad checks! Eloise Pope has stacks of returned checks to go through, including items returned for insufficient funds and closed bank accounts.

"It makes for a very bad day," says Pope. "It's stealing!"

Pope says "hot checks" are costing her thousands of dollars a month. She believes the sagging economy and higher gas prices are to blame.

"We have to end up sending out certified letters, and those alone cost me five dollars a letter. Then we're out of the money for about ten days. We hope we eventually get our money back, but most of the times we don't."

The Baldwin County District Attorney's Office has four people assigned to the "Bad Check Unit." D-A Judy Newcomb says writing a bad check could eventually cost the check-writer a small fortune.

"A 15 dollar check turns into a 250 dollar check once it's all over with," says Newcomb. "You've got to add in court costs and fees. It's serious business. An offender could be sentenced to up to a year in jail. Writing a check when you know there's no money in the account to cover it, is a crime. It's theft by deception."