A suspect in a forgery case concerning a check written on one of Jones County’s governmental accounts brought out the county’s chief finance officer to argue against his release.
Tyron Vonterra Volley, 33, was arrested April 25 on the charge of forgery third degree. He was in Jones County Superior Court May 16 seeking bond.
Volley was represented by defense attorney Scott Fortas, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Cara Fiore. Superior Court Judge Terry Massey heard the case.
A report of the incident leading to Volley’s arrest by Jones County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Lt. Kenny Gleaton stated he was contacted in March by the finance office of the Jones County Commissioners about a check in the amount of $83,723.12 made payable to a person named Deijina Ellis. The check was passed at a J.P. Morgan Chase branch. Gleaton said JCSO Investigator John Simmons was able to obtain video surveillance footage of the suspect at the bank negotiating the check. The video showed a black male with multiple tattoos on his hands, face and neck.
The investigator said the video was clear enough to identify some of the tattoos. He said Simmons got a lead and was able to positively identify Volley as the suspect on the video.
Gleaton said Volley was on probation and was located with help from the Department of Community Supervision.
Fortas asked Jones County CFO Lavita Crutchfield if the county was out the money for the check, and she said no. Crutchfield did explain, however, that the passing of the check led to additional training to prevent the any further incidents, which did cost the county money and man hours of employees.
Fiore told the court that Volley had a criminal history and had only been out of prison for six months when he was arrested.
After listening to the arguments of the attorneys, Massey denied bond on the grounds the defendant posed a significant danger to the community and was a significant risk to commit a new felony pending trial.
