Man charged with embezzling over $4,000
October 9, 2019
Felony embezzlement charges have been filed against a Cherokee man in Alfalfa County Court. James Ray Reneau, 32, has been charged with one count of embezzlement and one count of felony value – false pretenses, bogus check or con game.
The first charge is punishable by imprisonment in the state penitentiary for up to five years and a fine not to exceed $5,000 and restitution. The second charge is punishable by imprisonment in custody of the Department of Corrections for a term not to exceed five years or in the county jail for a term not to exceed one year, or by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both such imprisonment and fine.
While employed by Lightning Creek Investment Group, LLC, Reneau is accused of collecting rent checks from Joan Hicks and having them made out to him personally rather than his employer. The total value is listed as $4,050.
Court documents show on Sept. 25, Doug Maddux representing Lightning Creek contacted Cherokee Police Chief Ryan McNeil. He said after Lightning Creek closed the Cherokee Manor nursing home, they continued to operate a small apartment building on the property. Maddux said Reneau was hired to provide maintenance and lawn cutting for the property and paid $500 a month for those services. Maddux said that in December 2018 or January of 2019, Reneau was also tasked with collecting the monthly rent payments for the three tenants living in the apartment building.
Maddux stated that Reneau quit his employment with the business in August of 2019 after which the business discovered no rent monies or checks from the tenants had been deposited in the business bank account at ACB Bank. Maddux said he made several attempts to contact Reneau and was never able to get in touch with him. Maddux stated it was discovered that Reneau came back to the apartments at the beginning of September and collected the rent owed from the residents despite having quit his employment in August. Maddux further discovered that Reneau had been having the residents made the checks out to him personally instead of to the business and had also been cashing those checks himself.
Maddux provided Chief McNeil with copies of the checks from Hicks from January 2019 through September 2019 and made out to Reneau. The checks were endorsed with Reneau’s name on the back. McNeil located a traffic citation issued by the Cherokee police on August 29, 2019, which had been signed by Reneau. The signatures on eight of the nine checks appeared to be the same as on the traffic citation.
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