A Covington County man is being held on 40 counts of negotiating a worthless instrument. Judge Trippy McGuire set a $1 million cash bond.

Inves-tigator Max Smith of the DA’s worthless check unit said 38-year-old Christ-opher Lewis didn’t discriminate in his distribution of bad checks.

“He slung a bunch out there everywhere,” Smith said. “We had to get him off the street.”

Lewis had previously been arrested for at least one count of negotiating a worthless instrument, Smith said.

“He didn’t show up for court (Tuesday),” Smith said. “Now he won’t be out any time soon.”

Smith said Lewis didn’t target a particular area, nor did he write particularly large checks.

“There are just a lot of them,” he said. “We had to protect our merchants.”

Smith said Judge McGuire usually sets bond at $3,000 per count for worthless checks.

“This time, he set each one at $25,000 on a cash bond. Forty of those total $1 million,” he said. “That ought to keep him there.”