Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Forgery charges filed against Gurdon men

Forgery charges stemming from separate incidents have been filed in Clark County Circuit Court against two Gurdon men.

Jonathan Stanley Newburn, 21, of 4055 Highway 67 S., was charged with second degree forgery after allegedly writing a check from a stolen checkbook.

According to court documents, the Arkadelphia Police Department was notified that a vehicle had been broken into at Twin Rivers Health and Rehabilitation Center on Dec. 12. The owners purse, which contained a checkbook and various forms of personal identification, was taken.

The owner was notified by her bank that one of the stolen checks had been passed at New China restaurant in Hot Springs. It was later discovered that someone had attempted to pass another one at Wal-Mart in Arkadelphia, according to court records.

The records indicate that investigators obtained a copy of the check and video from Wal-Mart which shows Newburn attempting to pass the check to purchase a car stereo system. When a clerk asked for identification, Newburn reportedly pretended to look for identification and then walked away, leaving the stolen check - written for $419.04 - on the counter.

The charge against Newburn is a Class C felony. He was released from jail on a $2,500 bond.

In an unrelated incident, Shane Jearl Griffin, 34, of 700 E. Maple St., was also charged with forgery recently after he allegedly passed three checks on his wifes checking account in September.

According to documents in the Clark County Circuit Clerks office, Clark County Hot Check Coordinator Darlene Simpson turned the three checks over to police in early December. The owner of the account had reportedly placed a hold on it before the checks were written and asked that the forgery charges be filed against Griffin, the court documents indicate.

The three checks were written for $30, $40 and $50 to two gas stations in Gurdon and Arkadelphia.

The incident was investigated by the Arkadelphia Police Department.