(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Cushing man, who is on probation for passing a forged check five years ago, was charged today with knowingly concealing a stolen yellow metal gardening cart from the owner in January.
Christopher Ryan Bair, 30, was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon from the Payne County Jail on his latest charge, court records show.
Bair has been in the Payne County Jail on $5,000 bail since his arrest on April 29 by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Nack, who allegedly found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in his vehicle during a traffic stop.
Bair has been scheduled to have a June 24 preliminary hearing on his drug charge.
Five years ago, Bair was charged with passing a forged check at the Bank of Cushing in which the amount was changed from $120 to read $420, court records show.
The following year, Bair pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery for which he was placed on probation for five years under a deferred sentence, with an order to complete all treatment recommendations in a background report, pay $300 restitution, perform 75 hours of community service and contribute $150 to the victims’ compensation fund, court records show.
In that 2010 case, a Cushing woman said she had contracted with Bair for private health care for her husband, a Cushing police affidavit said.
She said that “they agreed that Bair would get paid $120 for eight hours of care,” the affidavit said.
She said “she wrote Bair a check in the amount of $120 and found out that he had forged the check making the amount on the check for $420,” the affidavit said.
When Bair was interviewed in 2010 at his then-residence in Glencoe, “Bair told me that a friend of his cashed the check for him,” but never gave him the money, Cushing Police Detective Adam Harp, who is now deceased, wrote in an affidavit filed in 2010.
“I told Bair that I had reviewed the security video and observed a white male in his vehicle that resembled him cashing the check.
“Bair admitted that he had altered the check because he needed to pay bills due to him not working and being disabled.
“Bair said that he was surprised that the teller took the check because of the way that it appeared, but tried it anyways and they cashed it for him,” Harp wrote in his affidavit.
If convicted of his latest charge of concealing a stolen gardening cart, Bair could be given a five-year prison term.
If convicted of his methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia possession charges filed last month, Bair could be incarcerated for 11 years and fined $11,000.
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