WALHALLA — As the nation tries to sort out the current financial mess with the lending industry, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office is trying to educate merchants about bad checks and other financial types of fraud.

In 2007, the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office investigated 1,087 fraudulent check and false pretense cases and so far this year they have handled 799 cases.

“If a merchant comes to us, which they have to now by state law, and files a complaint about fraudulent checks, we will obtain the warrant,” said Sgt. Mike Holmes of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Financial Crimes Unit. “We will notify the person that there is a warrant and we ask them to come turn themselves in on a specific date, at a specific time. If they do that the magistrate is on site, they conduct a bond hearing, and they are processed and most times they are released. If they don’t come in of course we have to fine them and arrest them.”

Last week the Sheriff’s Office held a walk-in day for anyone that needed to pay for a bad check they may have written. Ten people showed up to make restitution and were released on bond. This is a new procedure that the Sheriff’s Office is using to resolve bad check cases in part because of a change in state law.

“The law changed completely in the early part of this year and we’re all still learning at this point, but we’ve got a program put together to help merchants with the new process and understand exactly what we need to be able to prosecute the cases,” Holmes said.

South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 22-5-110, was recently amended to require the issuance of a courtesy summons, rather than an arrest warrant, for a misdemeanor offense within the jurisdiction of magistrate or municipal courts when non-law enforcement personnel seek a warrant. Simply put, Holmes said, individuals and merchants will no longer be allowed to sign an arrest warrant for fraudulent checks.

The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office has published a brochure to provide the public with information to help protect against fraudulent checks and it also explains the current procedures, required by the Sheriff’s Office, to prosecute those who violate the fraudulent check law.

“A lot of people who receive letters from merchants about bad checks, pick the check up, and get with the merchant to make restitution,” said Holmes, “but the problem is that they still have to be processed and speak to the magistrate in reference to the warrant.”

The Financial Crimes Unit of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office now offers fraudulent check workshops to help train merchants and their employees on the new procedures. These workshops are conducted either on-site or at a central location, such as the Law Enforcement Center in Walhalla.

The Financial Crimes Unit also offers additional workshops dealing with identity theft, detecting counterfeit currency and bogus checks. To learn more contact the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office Financial Crimes Unit at 864-638-4120.

All the workshops are conducted at no charge and participation is free.