Cedar County Attorney's Office
* 101 S. Broadway, 2nd Fl. * P.O. Box 135 * Hartington, NE 68739-0135 * Phone (402) 254-7229 * Fax 254-7233 *
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Cedar County Attorney's Office * 101 S. Broadway, 2nd Fl. * P.O. Box 135 * Hartington, NE 68739-0135 * Phone (402) 254-7229 * Fax 254-7233 *
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Cedar County Bad Check Prosecution If someone has given you an "Insufficient Funds" check or a check on a closed account, you are the victim of a crime, however, the check has to have been given in exchange for property, services or present value of any kind. If you fit this category, then you may turn this check over to our office for criminal prosecution. STEP 1: Complete an Affidavit where you answer specific questions about the subject check. You may download the Affidavit here (in Microsoft Word 2002 format) or you may also find the Affidavit in the Forms section of this website. STEP 2: Provide the following to our office: Completed Affidavit, the original bad check, the bank slip which shows what your bank charged your account for depositing an insufficient funds check, and a check made payable to the Cedar County Treasurer for $10.00. If you have more than one bad check, then you need to fill out a separate Affidavit per check and the fee payable to the Cedar County Treasurer should be a total of $10.00 PER check (If you have 3 bad checks to submit for prosecution, then your check to the Cedar County Treasurer should be $30.00). STEP 3: Mail or bring the above items to the Cedar County Attorney, 101 S. Broadway, 2nd Floor, P.O. Box 135, Hartington, NE 68739. Once we receive your materials, we will send a Certified, Restricted Delivery demand letter to the potential defendant. By statute, the potential defendant has 10 days to make good on the bad check prior to our filing a criminal complaint. In this demand letter, we urge the potential defendant to pay the amount of the check, the $10.00 fee, and the bank charge. At times, the potential defendant will contact our office and ask for an extension. If the request is reasonable (though beyond the 10 days) we will work with the potential defendant and give them a little extra time. If the potential defendant should happen to pay you in full directly, you must contact our office immediately and inform us of such. By not informing us of the payment, a criminal complaint could be filed against the potential defendant which would be baseless. If that were to occur, our office would require you to pay the costs for dismissal of the criminal action ($44.00). If you accept a partial payment for the bad check, this office cannot prosecute. By accepting a partial payment of the bad check, you will have entered into a civil agreement with the check writer, and thus the matter is no longer criminal in nature. If you still have questions regarding the bad check process, please go to the "Contact Us" page of this website and fill out the feedback form.
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