Hayes Country Corner Store owner Wayne Allen is clearly shocked that a man was able to walk into his store recently and walk out with nearly $400 of his hard earned cash through a check cashing scam.
According to Allen it happened on May 11th around 4:10 p.m. He says the man convinced the cashier at his store on Highway 17 to cash a $398.79 payroll check from Safelite Auto Glass of Gainesville, Georgia. The computer generated check was drawn on First Century Bank on Dorsey Street in Gainesville. Allen later discovered “there was no such account.” He says he’s “still trying to figure out” why the cashier cashed it.
Allen says the suspect went to a neighboring store, Riverbend, and tried to cash another check but “their clerks had better judgement” and didn’t cash it.
He reported the incident to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Joey Terrell says investigators are checking with other law enforcement agencies in the area to determine what, if any, other businesses have been targeted by the scam.
The transaction at Hayes Country Corner Store was captured on surveillance camera. The suspect is described as a black male around five-feet seven-inches tall with a stocky build, salt and pepper hair, mustache and goatee. Allen says the suspect had a child with him. They left in a 1999-2009 black or dark blue Chevrolet Suburban with silver or gold two-tone paint around the bottom. Terrell says investigators are looking for the vehicle, believed to have Georgia license plate #PHT 2541. He says they’ve followed up on several leads but, so far, he says, “We’ve come to a dead end.”
Sheriff Terrell asks anyone with information to please contact Habersham County Sheriff’s investigator Capt. Rick Salemi at 706-839-0557.
