Photo: Bryan Louis Herring
A man who listed a Batesville address when booked into the Baxter County jail in early July has allegedly scattered an estimated $40,000 in hot checks in a number of locations in Arkansas.
Forty-seven-year-old Bryan Louis Herring appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Herring has two active cases in Baxter County. He is accused of buying an outboard motor from a local dealer in late April last year using a $3,200 check written on a closed account at a bank in Izard County. He was alleged to have gone down the road to Izard County and passed a check on the same closed account for $3,500 to purchase a boat and motor he later sold to another person.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the transfer of the boat and motor taken in Izard County was made at a marina in Baxter County, giving Baxter county jurisdiction in the case.
In addition to using worthless checks to purchase the two outboard motors and the boat for which he has been charged in Baxter county, Herring has made a number of other purchases with bouncing checks.
In 2017-2018, he is alleged to have used hot checks to purchase:
— A 2014 pickup truck in Bethel Heights — a small town in Benton County. The bogus check in that case was written for almost $21,000. According to court records, Herring presented a Louisiana driver’s license to verify his identity at the Arkansas auto sales lot.
— Merchandise worth about $7,000 from a farm supply store in Ash Flat, including a chainsaw, mower, weed trimmer and a trailer. He is alleged to have used five checks to make the purchases.
— A 20-foot trailer from a manufacturer in Springdale using a hot check written for almost $4,800.
According to electronic court records, criminal charges have been filed against Herring in Baxter, Benton, Craighead, Independence, Izard, Lawrence and Washington counties in Arkansas. In addition, Herring was sent to federal prison for 45 months in 2014. He had been indicted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Alabama.
Herring was returned to federal prison in the same case for violating a large number of the terms and conditions of his supervised release. The violations included the charges filed against him in Baxter, Izard and other Arkansas counties. The violations were detailed in a document filed in his federal court case.
He was also charged with leaving the Eastern District of Arkansas that had control of his case, after it was transferred from Alabama. According to court records, he did not obtain permission from the court or federal probation officers to travel outside the district. His trips to Mountain Home, various cities in Northwest, Arkansas and out-of-state locations were all considered violations.
Herring claims he has been diagnosed as bipolar. He said he has been taking classes aimed at correcting his “thinking patterns,” as well as medication to “help assure this doesn’t happen again,” in reference to his alleged crimes.
Herring was ordered to reappear in circuit court Oct. 17.
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