(Stillwater) — A Cushing man was arraigned Monday on charges alleging that he passed five forged checks on his grandmother’s account for a total of $3,388.50 in cash within two months’ time.
Brian A. Faires, 23, remains free on $5,000 bond pending his return to court on Nov. 12 on the five-count second-degree forgery charge for which he was arrested in July.
Seven months ago, Faires was placed on four years’ probation after pleading guilty to three separate charges:
* obtaining the drug hydrocodone by fraud at Baker Pharmacy in Cushing on Oct. 9, 2008;
* resisting Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Anthony Harper on April 3, 2008 — additional counts of escape from arrest and possession of the drug Lortab were dropped in a plea bargain;
* false declaration of ownership of a rifle to Mo Money Pawn in Cushing on March 5, 2008 — another count of second-degree burglary was dropped in a plea bargain.
In the current case, Cushing Police Officer Jerrod Livergood wrote in an affidavit that he was sent on June 3 to Spirit Bank regarding fraudulent checks written on the account of Faires’ grandmother, Kay Sikes.
The alleged forgery, which Brian Faires later denied to police, was reported by his mother, Patricia Faires, who is also listed on the account, the affidavit said.
“Patricia said that her son Brian Faires had taken a checkbook that belongs to Kay Sikes and forged six checks,” the affidavit said.
When Brian Faires’ grandmother was interviewed, she told the officer that he had taken her checkbook out of her car in Cushing, the affidavit alleged. She said she was not sure how long the checkbook had been missing, the affidavit said.
If convicted of five counts of second-degree forgery between March and May, Faires could be given as much as a 35-year prison term, according to the charges filed by Payne County Assistant District Attorney Kathy Thomas.
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