Staff Report

WARSAW — A Bourbon man has been arrested on numerous charges after he allegedly stole checks from a local business.

Eric T. Scott

Eric T. Scott, 51, 302 N. Harris St., Bourbon, is facing one count of fraud on a financial institution, a Level 5 felony; one count of check fraud, a Level 6 felony; one count of forgery, a Level 6 felony; one count of possession of cocaine, a Level 6 felony; one count of theft, a Class A misdemeanor; and one count of possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.

According to a probable cause affidavit, on Tuesday, June 29, a Warsaw police officer went to H&L Motors in reference to the theft of two checkbooks. As he was traveling there, he was told that a man identified as Scott tried to cash a check from one of the books at Beacon Credit Union.

The officer was told a white male driving a tan Chevrolet Z71 with an extended cab tried to cash the check. He observed such a vehicle being operated by a man who matched the description.

The vehicle stopped at a Pak-A-Sak gas station. The officer approached the vehicle along with other officers. The driver, Scott, said he was contracted by H&L Motors. A representative of the business said that was not the case.

A Warsaw police officer had his K-9 do an outer air search on Scott’s vehicle. The dog alerted that the odor of illegal drugs was coming from the vehicle.

Officers found a glass pipe containing cocaine in the vehicle. They also found a checkbook belonging to the parent company for H&L Motors.

The first officer went to H&L Motors to meet with a representative. He showed where the checkbooks were stored. Officers looked at the checkbook found with Scott. It had a check dated for June 28 and made out for $5,500. The company’s representative’s name was forged on the check.

The officers also found a carbon copy for another check, dated for June 29, and made out for $5,500. It also had the representative’s name forged on it.

The checkbook also had two pages where it appeared that Scott practiced forging the representative’s signature. The representative said he didn’t provide those checks or sign them.

The officer talked with a bank employee who gave the officer a check Scott had tried to cash. The bank also provided a photo from surveillance footage of the person who tried to cash the check. The officer identified the person as Scott.

The officer went back to H&L Motors and spoke with an employee who said they found Scott inside the office saying he wanted to trade in a vehicle. Scott left after a while. The officer looked at surveillance footage and saw Scott arrive at H&L Motors. Scott was in the business for three minutes before he exited the business with the employee and left in his vehicle.

Scott was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on June 29 on a $5,250 surety and cash bond.