Hunter
07/07/22
An Iowa City man wanted after a forgery incident in November has been taken into custody.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim was approached by 23-year-old Eric Flowers of Davis Street, who told her that he needed to cash some checks but not having his own bank account to do so. Flowers allegedly offered the woman some money if she would help him.
The woman reportedly relinquished her bank account information and her debit card to Flowers or an associate of his. Text messages between Flowers and the woman said he planned to deposit checks into the account and withdraw money against the checks from her account.
On November 30th, Flowers allegedly deposited a check with an amount over $4750 into the woman’s account. Those funds were quickly depleted, either by Flowers and/or an unknown associate. When the check in question was dishonored by the victim’s bank, the funds were reversed, leaving a debt of nearly $5000 including fees. The account was then frozen by the bank.
Police say subsequent text massages showed Flowers tried to deposit a second check into the account but was unsuccessful.
The woman was working with Flowers at the time of the incident, and had his contact information loaded into her phone. She positively identified Flowers as the person involved in the check cashing incident.
Police investigating the matter determined that the check in question was a forgery.
A warrant was issued for Flowers’ arrest on May 6th, and he was taken to the Johnson County Jail Wednesday afternoon. Forgery is a Class D Felony punishable by a prison term of up to five years if convicted.
The Department of Correctional Services filed a complaint on Flowers because of the arrest; he was on probation on a charge of using a Juvenile to commit an Indictable Offense.