Officials: Man writes $12,000 in bad checks to convenience stores

SANTA ROSA BEACH – The Walton County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man for writing more than $12,000 in bad checks to local convenience stores, according to a WCSO press release.

Jeffrey Jay Barnett, 37, allegedly wrote more than two dozen of the bad checks to Tom Thumb convenience stores in Walton County last September and October.

“The investigation got underway in October after a Freeport resident contacted the Walton County Sheriff’s Office stating that someone had counterfeited her checks,” said Mike Gurspan, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

After a search that involved several Northwest Florida law enforcement agencies and the state attorney’s office, Barnett was located and arrested in South Florida.

He has been charged with 28 felony counts ranging from passing counterfeit instruments to scheming to defraud and uttering false bank drafts.

Barnett faces similar charges in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties. He is being held in Walton County without bond.