Belle Meade Police Lead Search For Check Fraudster

BELLE MEADE, TN — Belle Meade investigators are searching for a man who has used computer-generated checks to steal thousands of dollars in Tennessee and Alabama.

The man is using checks printed with account numbers from several Middle Tennesseans to make fraudulent purchases, Belle Meade investigator Tom Sexton told WKRN.

He cashed a $1,900 check at a Nashville bank and used a fake check to buy $3,000 in shingles from a local roofing company.

Sexton told News 2 that the man captured in surveillance footage could simply be a front man for the actual perpetrator.

"He could be homeless,” he said. “We’ve had instances where they pick up homeless people and offer them an extraordinary amount of money to do this type of thing.”

The man was seen driving a 2007 Cadillac when he used a Gallatonian's account number to buy $1,000 in tires on Murfreesboro Road. He attempted to buy $8,000 in merchandise from an Alabama mattress store — the only out-of-state purchase Sexton is aware of — but left in a white Ford F-150 without his purchase.

The man is in his late 60s and is bald with a gray beard.

Image via Belle Meade Police