Where in the World is Jeff?

An Illinois-based businessman was being sought by Washington and Benton county authorities Aug. 17 in connection with multiple high-dollar hot checks he had written in Fayetteville through J.K. Humphreys & Associates Inc., a construction company that lays underground cable.

Jeff Humphreys, president and CEO of the Justice, Ill.-based business, was reportedly flying into Northwest Arkansas on the night of Aug. 16 to resolve the checks problem. He never showed. He then told his Fayetteville employees he would be in town on the afternoon of Aug. 17.

The Fayetteville office is at 2210 S. School Ave. On Aug. 16, three Fayetteville police cars were at the office as were several workers who had were still looking for their past-due paychecks.

Other Humphrey problems, we hear, include:

• The Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale has yet to receive about $13,000 in debts owed by Humphreys when he set up a suite to originally run his business from.

• AAA Business Machines of Fayetteville, which also had a bounced check from Humphreys, went to repossess a computer system it had installed. One of the computers was missing from the premises.

• Around the World Travel of Springdale had a $2,350 check returned from a Chicago bank that had already closed Humphreys’ account, according to an affidavit from the Washington County prosecutor’s office.

• Humphreys purchased equipment from an Arkansas Ditch Witch dealer in Little Rock, wrote a hot check for it and took the equipment back to Illinois.

• The Dunn & Bradstreet business filing number given on Humphreys’ reference sheet was reportedly fictitious.

• Humphreys listed one of his vendor credit references as Hertz Equipment of Springdale. A representative at Hertz said they had no account with Humphreys.

• Labor Finders, which provided workers for Humphreys at job sites in the area, said none of their workers have been paid.

• The phone at the home financial office for Humphreys’ business in Illinois is disconnected.

We also learned that Humphreys was charged in 1994 with failure to appear in Washington County court.