Check Fraud Suspect Captured www.privateofficer.com

TOCCOA, Ga. Nov. 8 2007— For more than a year, Toccoa, Lavonia, Franklin, and Stephens County law enforcement officials have been baffled by multiple cases of check fraud.
But Toccoa police now have arrested a man they believe is responsible for most of them.
Police charged 37-year old Kenneth Swain Monday after an investigation led authorities to his door.
A break came in September when a woman reported being contacted by a bank that said her name had come up in connection with a check fraud, and her signature did not match the one on file.
“This happened so fast, we were able to get on it right away,” said Toccoa Police Capt. Butch Newkirk. “I worked with Murphy Oil Company Loss Prevention and Syertgy, a check approval company, and because this guy actually used his real name on his personal checks, the key was his signature. The computer picked up on his signature and matched it to a bunch of other fake checks in other states. The companies got back to me and said, ‘Here’s your suspect.’”
Swain confessed to some of the cases and told Toccoa investigators where to find the equipment he used to make the fake checks, officials said. Investigators then obtained a search warrant for Swain’s girlfriends home on DeFoor Road in Stephens County, officials said. Authorities uncovered a check printing operation in the basement of that home.
Last spring, authorities in four states were baffled by a string of bad checks being passed at Auto Zone stores from North Carolina to Alabama.
The suspect appeared to be traveling the Interstate-85 corridor and purchasing up to $400 worth of merchandise at a time at each store.
Capt. Newkirk said that turned out to be the tip of the check fraud iceburg.
“There’s Auto Zones, there’s Best Buy, there’s Lowe’s and Home Depot, there’s Murphy Oil, Toys R Us, it just keeps going on and on,” he said. “There’s hundreds of retailers involved. Basically what he did was buy himself a good check-writing program and a printer. He traveled around several states printing out checks.”
Swain reportedly got the numbers by standing behind people who were writing checks and looking over check writers’ shoulders, Capt. Newkirk said. Swain also had access to Murphy Oil through a friend who was an employee.
“He’s a very seasoned convict,” the captain said of Swain. “He’s been in and out of jail on forgery and fraud cases.”
Swain recently was arrested in Franklin County in connection with using fradulent checks to buy cars from ads he saw on the Internet in Mississippi and other states along the East Coast.
But the investigation is not over, according to Toccoa Police Chief Jackie Whitmire.
“This is a good break in the fraud and identity theft business,” the chief said. “I talked to the Secret Service agent last week. They came up to review this case and see if they needed to do anything here. They were extremely pleased with the investigation that our detectives had done.”
Secret Service agents expect more arrests in this case, the chief said.
Swain faces multiple federal charges and a number of local charges, according to Capt. Newkirk, and remains in custody in the Stephens County Jail.
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