FAIRMONT — A 27-year-old Fairmont man is facing a felony charge in Martin County.

William Frances Bishop Bishop-Martinez Jr. has been charged with issuing dishonored checks, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the complaint:

On Aug. 10, a Fairmont police detective received a bad check packet that contained documentation from the Hy-Vee and Super America businesses in Fairmont of multiple account closed returned checks from the checking account of Bishop-Martinez. The aggregate amount of the bad checks from the two businesses totaled $991.92.

The businesses both compiled bad check packets and sent Notice and Demand for Payment via certified mail to Bishop-Martinez. Both mailings were returned to the businesses marked “Returned to Sender, Unclaimed, Unable to Forward.”

The detective also became aware of a check in the amount of $841.15 from Bishop-Martinez’s account being passed at Scheels in Rochester. The detective then completed a request for banking records related to the account in question from Profinium Financial.

He was contacted by a Profinium employee on Aug. 10. The employee advised that no monthly statements were available for Bishop-Martinez’s checking account as the account had been closed in January 2016 by the bank.

The checks in question had been run through the bank system, declined as account closed and returned non-payment to payee.

On Aug. 14, the detective picked up the requested bank records for the account. Before the account was closed, four letters of overdraft notices were sent to Bishop-Martinez. The account was closed with an outstanding balance owed of $1,655.21.

The detective attempted to contact Bishop-Martinez by phone to set up an interview, but the phone number on file was not operational. The detective then went to his address, where he observed Bishop-Martinez in the driveway. The detective approached and asked him to come to the Martin County Law Enforcement Center for an interview.

Bishop-Martinez asked what it was about, and the detective advised it was about several bad checks written to Hy-Vee and Super America. Bishop-Martinez stated he was aware of those checks and he had been in contact with the businesses, but it was a long time ago. The detective told him it was in April and May of this year, and Bishop-Martinez stated “Yes. That was a long time ago.”

Bishop-Martinez stated he did not want to go to the Law Enforcement Center and that the detective could talk to him there in the driveway. The detective asked him if he knew the checking account was closed, and he stated he knew.

The detective then asked him about the check to Scheels, and he stated he had been in contact with Scheels and was working it out.

The detective observed that Bishop-Martinez quickly became frustrated with the questions, and he advised the detective that he did not have anything more to say. He stated the businesses would just have to wait for him to get the money and also stated he was broke and would have to pay them when he could.