One visit to the Facebook page of the Covington County District Attorney’s Office Worthless Check Unit will inundate you with mug shots of people wanted for passing bad checks, but Investigator Lamar Stokes said that is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We have over 2,700 active warrants for bad checks or failure to pay or appear,” Stokes said. And believe it or not, that number is down from last year.

“When I took this job in January of last year, there was probably 2,900. We’ve been steadily working that number down,” he said.

Stokes said the more than 2,700 warrants are comprised of people who simply passed bad checks, those who failed to appear in court for a charge related to a bad check and those people who began making restitution payments and, for whatever reason, have stopped.

And while Stokes said investigators with the unit are actively seeking out those people with outstanding warrants, he added that anyone on that list can make the charges go away by simply paying what they owe.

“If they know they have an active warrant, they can call the circuit clerk, or come by and see David (Floyd) at the DA’s office, and they can set up payment and have the warrant recalled. It won’t even be on their record. All restitution will be taken care of.”

Floyd said the unit has also rolled out a new website and toll free number that will allow people to make payments using credit cards, but added those options are only available for people who do not have outstanding warrants and have not been arrested in the past for passing bad checks.

Those who qualify may access the credit card payments by visiting covicodapay.com or calling 1-877-748-6252.