The Barton County Sheriff’s Office announced that a suspect in an ongoing scam involving fraudulent checks written in central Kansas was arrested Tuesday, April 18, in Decatur County, in northwest Kansas.

Roger Kornegay, 65, was arrested on a Barton County District Court warrant for forgery and theft, with assistance from the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office and the Oberlin Police Department, Sheriff Brian Bellendir said. 

The investigation began February 14 with at least one local business affected by the scam. An individual would write checks at businesses, produce proper identification and buy large quantities of merchandise. It would later be discovered the checks and identification were forged.

During the BCSO Detective Division’s investigation, Kornegay was identified as a suspect. He had recently been released from federal parole.

Investigators discovered that Kornegay had been using more than 25 aliases and had a history of financial crimes, Bellendir stated in a press release.

After detectives obtained a warrant for Kornegay’s arrest, they discovered he was in Nebraska and possibly headed to Oberlin, Kansas. 

Kornegay is a resident of Mount Olive, North Carolina. Currently he is being held in the Decatur County Jail and Bellendir expected he would be transported to Barton County on Wednesday. Kornegay is being held in lieu of a $100,000 bond.

This case is ongoing and the BCSO expects that more charges will be filed from several other jurisdictions.