COUNTY COLLECTIONS OF BAD CHECKS NEARLY $1 MILLION

Signing a check is a promise that the money is in the bank awaiting withdrawal. But that apparently isn't clear to everyone.

"Every day there are checks that will not clear against accounts," said Terry Tuschhoff, a senior vice president at Boatmen's Bank in Cape Girardeau.

Tuschhoff said it would be hard to weed out those who might be more likely to write bad checks. "There's no real way to do that short of stereotyping people," he said. "And we don't want to do that."

Many banks participate in a network of lists of people who have had accounts closed in the past due to insufficient funds. Most banks reserve the right to refuse an account due to their banking history.

"We don't blackball people though," he said. "We try to take individual circumstances into account."

Some people may have excusable extenuating circumstances for writing bad checks, like a death of a partner who may have handled the finances or an illness, he said.

Automatic Teller Machines may be another factor in bad-check writing, Tuschhoff said.

"We hear 'The ATM said I had money.' It's not smart enough to know whether or not people have three checks that haven't cleared," he said. "The only person who really knows what he's written is the customer."

With better technology, the checks and ATM withdrawals are being posted faster all the time, so it's getting more difficult to "beat the check to the bank," he said.

People don't like paying the $15-to-$20 fee that banks and most merchants charge for bad checks, but Tuschhoff said they are good deterrents.

"It's there saying, 'Don't write a bad check -- it's going to cost you,'" Tuschhoff said. "People think there's this all-knowing being at the bank that knows their balance all the time."

Morley Swingle, Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney, said: "We try to get a prison sentence for con men that we really think are making a living off of writing bad checks. Maybe a guy running around town writing $100 checks who knows there's no money in the bank, these kind of people get jail time."

Those facing felony charges for bad checks over $150 could spend up to five years in prison and pay a fine up to $5,000.

Swingle said 75 percent of those who are charged with writing bad checks end up on probation.

"These are the one's who have been in no trouble, are in debt over their heads and write checks hoping they get money before the checks clear," he said.

Tuschhoff believes many bad checks are written due to "honest mistakes."

"It's math, and people make mistakes," he said.

As prosecuting attorney, Swingle's office has been in charge of collecting restitution for bad checks since 1989.

After a merchant turns over a bad check to Swingle's office, he sends a letter to the person who wrote the check. The letter reminds the person that writing bad checks is a crime and that the check-writer must pay the money to his office within 10 days. If the person doesn't respond, he assumes the person committed fraud.

"Then we can file charges against them if we have to," Swingle said.

Since the state's statute revision encouraged all prosecuting attorney's to help merchants collect bad checks, his office has collected nearly $1 million in restitution.

More importantly to the county, the statute allows county officials to collect a fee from those who write bad checks. The prosecutor can charge from $5 to $25 to those who write bad checks, depending on the amount of the check.

Since 1989, nearly $200,000 has been collected for the county.

"We generally collect around $3,000 a month," Swingle said of the fees. "By statute, that money goes into a fund to help assist the prosecutor's office."

The money pays for the program and then some: It bought a new computer and other needed items for Swingle's office. He called it a "worthwhile program."

Swingle said that merchants have an important responsibility in regards to bad checks. They need to make it a policy to look at photo identification every time they take a check.

"By the time a bad-check case gets into court, several weeks have passed. Very often the victim will have to honestly say they can't recognize the person," he said.

"But we can win if they can say, 'I always check for photo identification and write down their license number.' That's how we can connect the dots. If the merchant does not have this policy, we may not be able to pursue it."

Tuschhoff said: "The means to avoid writing bad checks is knowing your balance, maintaining good records. It almost seems too obvious, but people should balance their checking account to the monthly bank statement when they get it."

He said there is no real advantage to writing bad checks.

"When you write bad checks, you're that much further behind the next time. Get things caught up and stay there."

BAD CHECKS

Cape Girardeau Counmty has collected nearly $1 million in bad check restitution since 1989.

November 1989 - May 1996

Number of bad checks: 27,264

Restitution collected: $990,293.79

Collected fees for Cape Girardeau County: $189,438.75

Bad checks per month

January-May, 1996

January - 643

February - 397

March - 714

April - 643

May - 524

1996 to-date total - 2,921

Yearly totals

1995

Bad checks - 4,596

Restitution - $203,011.43

Fees - $32,831.66

1994

Bad checks - 4,284

Restitution - $164,991.82

Fees - $27,600.00

1993

Bad checks - 4,327

Restitution - $142,008.63

Fees - $28,901.41

1992

Bad checks - 4,376

Restitution - $141,593.88

Fees $29,230.62