A Roaring River man is accused of defrauding two businesses, one of them a local convenience store. Sheriff deputies say J36-year old James Kelly Shepherd worked for a trucking company for one week last year, and during that time obtained nine checks. These are a special kind of check that is used at truck stops and stores, and has to be authorized through a fleet management company to be valid. However, he cashed the checks, written for a total of over 16-hundred dollars, at Thurmond Grocery, which had no knowledge the checks needed pre-approval. He said they were paychecks.



The checks, of course, bounced, sticking Thurmond Grocery with the face value plus about 225-dollars in bank fees. According to the store owner, Shepherd admitted to the fraud, and apologized, offering the excuse he was hooked on meth. However, he has made no attempt to make good the money the store lost, so the owner has filed charges. Deputies will serve Shepherd with warrants charging that he obtained property by false pretense.

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