PADUCAH, Ky. (KFVS) – Three people from Georgia were taken into custody following a fraud investigation in McCracken County, Kentucky.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff’s Office, on Tuesday, October 29, detectives began investigating numerous fraudulent checks sent to banks in the McCracken County area.

The crime, often referred to in the banking community as “Operation Homeless,” involves individuals traveling from town to town and stealing business checks from outside mailboxes in the community.

Individuals will then often recruit local people to break into banks and present the forged checks as their own. Individuals will then take the money from the recruit and cash as many checks as possible until authorities become aware of the activity.

The sheriff’s office said thanks in part to the cooperation of local business entities, detectives were able to identify a possible suspect vehicle early in the investigation.

While the investigation of the information continued, it was learned that the vehicle was rented in Atlanta, Georgia and went to Paducah, Kentucky, the day before the first report on the subject was published.

On Friday, November 1, detectives were conducting surveillance at a location where the vehicle involved in the incident was known to recruit people for the criminal organization. Detectives observed the vehicle pull into the parking lot of a local business and a person enter the vehicle.

Traffic was stopped a short time later after detectives determined that the operator had committed a traffic violation. During the traffic stop, detectives located three individuals from the Atlanta, Georgia area.

The vehicle was searched. The search revealed suspected marijuana, drug paraphernalia, multiple Schedule II prescription narcotics, computers, light monitoring equipment, a portable printer, and a large stock of blank business checks.

The driver, 26-year-old Enrique Johnson, of Ellenwood, Georgia, and passengers, 24-year-old Jahbril Kelley and 26-year-old Dontavis Sellars, were arrested and charged with the following crimes:

• Enrique Johnson was charged with failure to signal or improper signaling, involvement in organized crime, possession of a counterfeiting device, attempted crime (second-degree forgery), and receiving stolen property under $500.
• Jahbril Kelley was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, involvement in organized crime, possession of a forgery device, attempted crime (second-degree forgery), and receiving stolen property under $500.
• Dontavis Sellars was charged with involvement in organized crime, possession of a counterfeiting device, attempted crime (second-degree forgery), receiving stolen property under $500, and two counts of first-degree possession of a controlled substance.

Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.