Humphreys Hauled In

A sheriff’s deputy finally caught up with Jeffrey Humphreys in Akron, Ohio. He’s the guy we told you about last issue who had written several hot checks around Northwest Arkansas.

The bad news is that Washington County prosecuting attorney Terry Jones believes it will be very difficult for those affected in his jurisdiction to retrieve there losses from Humphrey.

Washington County issued a warrant for Humphrey’s arrest after several affidavits had been filed against him in August. His company, J.K. Humphreys & Associates Inc., based in south Fayetteville, failed to meet payroll and owed numerous businesses both through hot checks and credit balance.

Humphrey had workers at his cable-laying Fayetteville operation inform angry clients he would be arriving Aug. 16 to clear the matters. He failed to arrive that evening, then had them repeat the story for the following day. He never showed again. He had told one Fayetteville businessman he was in Canton, Ohio, but was finally picked up in Akron Aug. 24.

The Washington County prosecutor’s office so far has 20 checks returned from Humphreys totaling about $13,000. There are also bounced checks from Humphreys in Benton and Pulaski counties.

However, Ohio authorities will not release Humphreys to Arkansas just yet because Humphreys is being held as charges of grand theft auto in that state are processed. He is also wanted by both Michigan authorities and the federal government on other charges.

“Once he gets a trial date set [in Ohio], we’ll process our charges,” Jones said. “But it sounds like we may be traveling man with this guy over the next six months or so. At some point, he’s probably looking at a good bit of [jail] time and it may be real hard getting any money back from him.”

Businesses we know affected by Humphreys include The Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale, AAA Business Machines of Fayetteville, Around the World Travel of Springdale and an Arkansas Ditch Witch dealer in Little Rock.