Arizona republican., 1920-12-06
BOGUS CHECKS, FORGERY, CASES
  HERE AVERAGE THREE A WEEK

More than two bogus checks have been issued in Phoenix each week during the year 1920, up to December 1, according to the records of the two justice courts in the city. and almost each week has seen forgery charge filed. No one knows how many bogus checks and forged checks have been issued that have never been re- ported to the authorities. The jus tice court records show that 112 bogus check charges and 8 forgery charges have been filed during the eleven months just past.
 A resume of the justice court records of the history of the cases show some startling features. Of the 112 bogus check cas-a on docket. 25 were held to answer to the superior court, 27 were dismissed. are still pending and in 51 cf }I'le charges filed the per son Grarged was never caught by the officers. The forgery cases show that IS were held to answer. one Is still pending. one was transferred to the juvenile court and in 13 the person charged with the forgery was never apprehended.
 Tracing the cases that went to the superior court in the bogus check charges five were found guilty and sentenced to the stae penitentiary, Il were dismissed. four received sus- pended sentences and five are still waiting to fbe tried. Of the IS for gerry cases held to the superior court, nine were found guilty and sentenced | to serve in the state prison, two re- l ceiyed suspended sentences, two l jumped their bonds. one was trans | ferred to the juvenile court, one was l dismissed and two are waiting to be | tried.
 Under the Arizona statutes. bogus 1 check is one that is issued by per son who has not sufficient funds ir the bank to cover it or has neither funds nor an account in the bank. 4 1 majority of the cases that have come to the attention of the authorities art | of the latter class. The check wa: written by the person with the inten | to defraud
 Many Never Caught
 According to officers, in a number of cases after a person has been ar rested on a charge of issuing ont bogus check, merchants holding othel bogus checks issued by the persoI under arrest read an account of tn arrest in the daily papers and at ono, bring these checks to be added to tn charge. In one case which came III recently, police detectives obtaine, more than 50 additional checks iSSue'
 by the man under arrest during tn
 past year. In these cases the persol
 is only tried on the one charge wit
 the additional checks as evidence il
 the case.
 In both bogus check and forger,
 charges. the figures showing thos never caught are the largest in tn ? list These are all cases of wher
 the check was issued to defraud , nearly every case where the issuer c
 the check was never caught, the per son making the check cashed it wit local business firm and then lei
 town at once. Usually he passed tn
 check on Saturday afternoon or lat , in the afternoon before holiday
 At least two or three days woul
 elapse in these cases before the ban
 returned the check to the person wh
 had cashed it and by the time officer
 were notified the issuer of the chec l would be gone. In several such case
 the person wanted was apprehende
 in another town. but as a rule tn description of the man wanted wa
 very meager and he was never caugh In nearly every case dismissed, tn
 complaining witness either asked ths , the charge be dismissed or failed
 appear against the person under al rest. These cases are of two kind , First. where the person overdrew h
 bank account and was negligent