FARMINGTON — A Chesterville selectman was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging failure to appear in court on a bad-check charge.
According to the complaint filed in court, Tiffany Estabrook, 40, was supposed to appear April 24 in a Farmington court on a misdemeanor charge of negotiating a worthless instrument. The amount of the check she is alleged to have written to C.N. Brown was $260, according to the complaint.
Estabrook posted $260 cash bail to be released from the Franklin County Detention Center the same day.
Sheriff Scott Nichols Sr. said Friday that Estabrook told the arresting deputy that she had paid the company the money owed and thought she had taken care of the matter.
She hadn’t realized that she would still need to go to court.
Farmington police issued the summons to Estabrook.
The normal process for collecting payment on bad checks is that a business sends out a certified letter telling the person who had issued a check that it did not clear and that they have five days to pay the money owed, according to Bonnie Pomeroy, secretary for the Farmington Police Department.
If the time expires and the business does not receive the money, the business can contact police regarding pursuing a charge of negotiating a worthless instrument.
Once police get the complaint, they also try to contact the person either by phone or by letter. If there is no response, a summons is issued, Pomeroy said.
Once a summons is issued, only the Franklin County District’s Attorney’s Office can decide whether the case should be dismissed, she said.
Estabrook’s attorney was not available for comment Friday or Monday.
A conviction on a negotiating a worthless instrument charge carries a maximum six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Estabrook has served on the Board of Selectmen since November 2016.
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