FAIRMONT — A Jackson man is facing a felony charge in Martin County.

Cody Allen Cloyd, 25, has been charged with check forgery, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the complaint: On Sept. 14, a Fairmont police officer met with a program supervisor of REM Heartland, a business in Fairmont that provides care for the physically and mentally disabled. The supervisor reported that a fraudulent check had been written out in the amount of $900 on the account of a vulnerable adult resident. The supervisor provided the officer with a printout of the checks written on the person’s account at a bank in Fairmont.

The check in question was written in the name of Cloyd. The check was dated Aug. 11, 2018, and contained a signature of the vulnerable adult at the bottom. In reviewing the check with the other checks provided on the printout, it was apparent the signature on the check in question was forged.

The supervisor said the checking account would have required pre-authorization from her before a check was issued. She said no pre-authorization was ever obtained. The officer was able to obtain a printout from the person’s bank that showed the front and back of the check. The stamp on the back of the check listed Bank Midwest, Spirit Lake, Iowa.

The officer contacted the bank branch and it advised the check had been cashed in Jackson. The officer obtained a search warrant to obtain information regarding the transaction. The information showed that Cloyd had opened a checking account at the bank in Jackson on Aug. 11, and cashed a check in the amount of $900, made payable to himself from the vulnerable adult.

On Aug. 20, Cloyd told Bank Midwest that his new forwarding address was going to be in Chadron, Nebraska. A statement from a bank employee dated Sept. 24 advised that the employee had seen Cloyd walk across the street from the Jackson address he had originally given the bank when he opened the account there.