Springfield Police have arrested a man for passing fake checks at area stores - and police warn that the incident is not isolated. Police identified Rhett Scofield as a suspect in four cases that involved thousands of dollars in fake checks passed at area businesses, including the Walmart at 1923 E. Kearney St. and Kum & Go stores at 3623 E. Sunshine St. and 2744 E. Chestnut Expressway. They later found Scofield at a South Glenstone Avenue motel and served a search warrant, seizing evidence of check printing and a "significant quantity" of what appeared to be illegal narcotics, authorities said. Scofield was booked in Greene County Jail and charged with forgery; drug charges are pending laboratory testing.
Police say the use of fake checks in the area is on the rise. Police encourage businesses to be cautious when accepting checks and credit cards, and to check the legal identification of someone using checks or credit cards.
License Office Shakeup
Gov. Jay Nixon was in Springfield last week to sign House bills 381 and 683, which codify his reforms to the state's license office award process.
Nixon signed the bills at the Springfield license office at 3061 S. Fremont Ave., accompanied by Missouri Department of Revenue Director Karen Mitchell, whose department oversees the bidding process. The Fremont office was awarded to Alternative Opportunities Inc. earlier this year under the state's new competitive bidding process. Nixon said in the past, license offices were typically awarded to political contributors or campaign supporters and were based on the governor's decisions. "We removed politics from the process," he said. The competitive process takes into account a bidder's experience, the planned hours of operation, and business factors such as credit and financing, according to Nixon's office. The process also gives preference to nonprofit and civic organizations and to bidders who pledge to return some of their proceeds to the state. Also new is a requirement that all bid documents and scores from staff members who review the bids be made public online. The legislation takes effect Aug. 28, but 28 offices in Missouri already have been awarded using the new bidding process.
Unemployment Fraud
Charges have been filed against 41 Missourians for fraudulently receiving unemployment insurance benefits from the state, and they have been ordered to pay more than $190,000 in restitution. The individuals were identified through routine audits by the Missouri Department of Labor's Division of Employment Security. They were found to have provided false information on weekly applications for unemployment benefits, which constitutes a class-C felony. The individual restitution amounts range from $1,000 to $11,000. When the department determines a claimant has been overpaid or fraudulently received benefits, those charges are credited back to the claimant's employer. The employer receives a credit that can be applied to its next billing or refunded upon request, the department said. The department is looking to deny future benefits to those who commit fraud; current Missouri law allows those found guilty of fraud to collect unemployment benefits despite having outstanding penalties. Penalties during the past few years have totaled more than $11 million, and so far in 2009, the department has collected more than $500,000 in restitution from cases that have been addressed in previous years.[[In-content Ad]]
Under construction beside the existing Republic branch of the Springfield-Greene County Library District – which remains in operation throughout the project – is a new building that will double the size of the original, according to library officials.
