Payton Kelly (DOC file photo)
Michael Austin Wilkes photo unavailable
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — In apparently unrelated cases, two men have been charged in Payne County District Court with passing a total of over $6,000 in forged checks to businesses based in Perkins, court records show.
Payton Grant Kelly, 23, of Stillwater, was charged on Aug. 8 with passing four forged checks totaling $1,974.42 on July 15 to Williams Food in Perkins, in a case investigated by Perkins Police Officer Jared Noles. Kelly remains free on $15,000 bail pending a Sept. 10 court appearance with an attorney.
The officer had been sent at 1:30 pm on Aug. 1 to Williams grocery store where a customer service employee showed him images of four checks cashed by Kelly, an affidavit alleged.
“The individual on the security video was a white male who later appeared to match previous booking photos,” the affidavit alleged.
“The checks appeared to belong to Hydro Foam Technology, Inc. located at 4321 E. 122nd Street in Perkins,” but the only correct information was the business name and address, the affidavit alleged. “The account numbers, business phone and the BancFirst location were not correct,” the affidavit alleged.
At the time of the alleged forgery, Kelly was on five years’ probation for possessing stolen property in Payne County in 2022, court records show.
The prosecution has filed documents seeking to revoke his probation since Kelly was charged on Dec. 4, 2023, with possessing marijuana in Noble County; on May 5, 2024, with possessing burglary tools in Payne County; and on July 1, 2024, with shoplifting in Payne County, as well as failing to pay court-ordered fees in his stolen property case.
In a separate case investigated by Perkins Police Officer Shane Dean, an arrest warrant has been issued for Michael Austin Wilkes, 26, of Tulsa, for allegedly passing two checks totaling $4,080.20 on June 20 to the Payne County Bank, court records show.
The Perkins officer had been sent on July 10 to the Payne County Bank where a woman reported she had sent a check to a Tulsa vendor from her company, Mayoco Manufacturing LLC, an affidavit said.
She said, “someone had taken the check and started making fraudulent checks with Mayoco Manufacturing LLC on the check and their account number. There were two checks cashed. The first check was cashed at the main Payne County Bank located at 202 S. Main in Perkins on June 20,” at 2:23 pm for $2,005.10. The check was made out to Michael Wilkes. “The second check was cashed on June 20 at 3:11 pm at the Payne County Bank in Chandler,” for $2,075.10 made out to Wilkes, the affidavit alleged.
The Perkins officer alleged in his affidavit that Payne County Bank security video showed, “There is a white male with a beard wearing a grey shirt, brown pants and a hat that walks into the bank and cashes the check. I looked at Michael Wilkes driver’s license photo, and I believe it to be the same person in the security video from the bank cashing the check.
“This same person is seen in the footage at the Payne County Bank in Chandler cashing a fraudulent check a little over an hour later. I tried calling the number on the check, and it went to a voicemail with a male identifying himself as Mike. I left a voicemail and did not receive a callback. I have not been able to get ahold of Michael to interview him.”
