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

Dayton Lee Nielsen, 22, 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 Jan. 1, a Fairmont police officer met with a man in the lobby of the law enforcement center on a report of check forgery. The man said he owned a limited liability company and was reviewing records of another individual when he observed the checking account to be overdrawn by about $400. Upon further review, he discovered than an unauthorized check had been cashed.

A check was written out to Nielsen in the amount of $914 with a memo stating “Payroll-weekly.” It was believed this referred to Nielsen. The man informed the officer that Nielsen had never worked for the individual, but had asked for work in the past.

The man showed the officer a photo of the check, which was purported to be signed by him. He said neither the handwriting or signature were his. The back of the check included information indicating it was deposited at First Farmers & Merchants Bank in Fairmont on Dec. 30.

The man said he contacted Nielsen to ask about the check and Nielsen denied knowing anything about it, but said he did get an alert from his bank, First Farmers & Merchants, regarding recent activity. Nielsen told the man he would contact the bank that morning.

On Jan. 2, another police officer went to the bank to conduct a follow-up. An employee told the officer that Nielsen was the one who deposited the check, and that he put $50 in the account and received the remaining $864 in cash.

On Jan. 3, the officer reviewed surveillance video from the bank and recognized the person depositing the check as Nielsen. Nielsen had endorsed the back of the check.