ethansmommy
Nov 19, 2008, 01:29 AM
Okay calling myself a "victim" might sound dramatic to some but that's how I feel. Let me give you some background. I am 24, live in ky, married <hubby has a great job>, two kids, decent credit score, house is paid for, you know we're not rich or anything but we've got it pretty decent.
Back in may I was about eight months pregnant with my daughter my husband had gotten off work and went to fill his car up and his debit card was declined. Now I always go on fridays and deposit his check into the bank and on the fifteenth of every month I put his bonus check in the bank so I "knew" that funds weren't the problem. He even went in the store to try to pay thinking that the gas pump card readers were messed up and of course declined. Luckily he had some cash on him so he got gas and came on home. The next morning I went to the bank to see what was up with the card and my bank had been overdrafted by like 400 dollars. It wasn't that someone had stolen a ck book or a debit card but someone had just written down my routing number and acct number and was using it online and we had just lost close over a grand because the six hundred plus dollars that we had in the bank was gone plus some. I don't really do a whole lot of checking my bank acct online so this apparently had been going on for while and my bank was pretty much paying all my checks that came through and just piling on the charges. I live in a tiny town with only three grocery stores and I always shop at the same one. They all know me there <i think mostly because I have the wildest three year old little boy that ever comes through there> and I always shop three or four times a week and always write a check. So of course all the checks that got returned were to there and there were five of them I think there were no big ones at all none of them were even close to a hundred bucks. I called the manager up because we're on a first name basis let her know what was going on. She said they send their returned checks to a check recovery center and if they're not able to obtain funds then she would get the checks back and give me a call or send me a letter. My bank had agreed to pay the outstanding checks and try to get my money back and I never heard anything else from the grocery store so I just assumed everything was paid and I was good.
In August I got a letter from the county atty that they had been turned over to him so of course I FREAKED. They had added a 50 dollar returned check fee and a 50 dollar prosecutor fee. Well I went in the day I got the letter and spoke with his secretary and explained the situation. I had a four week old baby and of course my three year old and I was scared to death I was going to go to jail or something so I asked what I could do to make sure that didn't happen. She told me just to make a payment until we could get this all cleared up, so I did. Then I went in the next two fridays and made payments all the while trying to get this cleared up with my bank. My bank said they were going to take care of the charges because they were supposed to pay them anyway well now it's November and the other day I got papers that I have to go to court about this two days before thanksgiving. I have NEVER been and any trouble in my life. I wrote these checks and I will pay them if that means not going to jail or anything. I am so scared is there anyone who has any idea what's going to happen?? Should I try to talk to the county atty I know him fairly well or talk to the manager of the grocery store? Should I plead not guilty? Should I explain this all to the judge? Is there a chance I'm going to go to jail and not be with my kids on thanksgiving? Sorry I know this is long but I appreciate any help I can get.
Back in may I was about eight months pregnant with my daughter my husband had gotten off work and went to fill his car up and his debit card was declined. Now I always go on fridays and deposit his check into the bank and on the fifteenth of every month I put his bonus check in the bank so I "knew" that funds weren't the problem. He even went in the store to try to pay thinking that the gas pump card readers were messed up and of course declined. Luckily he had some cash on him so he got gas and came on home. The next morning I went to the bank to see what was up with the card and my bank had been overdrafted by like 400 dollars. It wasn't that someone had stolen a ck book or a debit card but someone had just written down my routing number and acct number and was using it online and we had just lost close over a grand because the six hundred plus dollars that we had in the bank was gone plus some. I don't really do a whole lot of checking my bank acct online so this apparently had been going on for while and my bank was pretty much paying all my checks that came through and just piling on the charges. I live in a tiny town with only three grocery stores and I always shop at the same one. They all know me there <i think mostly because I have the wildest three year old little boy that ever comes through there> and I always shop three or four times a week and always write a check. So of course all the checks that got returned were to there and there were five of them I think there were no big ones at all none of them were even close to a hundred bucks. I called the manager up because we're on a first name basis let her know what was going on. She said they send their returned checks to a check recovery center and if they're not able to obtain funds then she would get the checks back and give me a call or send me a letter. My bank had agreed to pay the outstanding checks and try to get my money back and I never heard anything else from the grocery store so I just assumed everything was paid and I was good.
In August I got a letter from the county atty that they had been turned over to him so of course I FREAKED. They had added a 50 dollar returned check fee and a 50 dollar prosecutor fee. Well I went in the day I got the letter and spoke with his secretary and explained the situation. I had a four week old baby and of course my three year old and I was scared to death I was going to go to jail or something so I asked what I could do to make sure that didn't happen. She told me just to make a payment until we could get this all cleared up, so I did. Then I went in the next two fridays and made payments all the while trying to get this cleared up with my bank. My bank said they were going to take care of the charges because they were supposed to pay them anyway well now it's November and the other day I got papers that I have to go to court about this two days before thanksgiving. I have NEVER been and any trouble in my life. I wrote these checks and I will pay them if that means not going to jail or anything. I am so scared is there anyone who has any idea what's going to happen?? Should I try to talk to the county atty I know him fairly well or talk to the manager of the grocery store? Should I plead not guilty? Should I explain this all to the judge? Is there a chance I'm going to go to jail and not be with my kids on thanksgiving? Sorry I know this is long but I appreciate any help I can get.