A Polk County detention deputy was arrested today, accused by detectives of running a check-kiting scheme to cover debts.
Becky Ann Garry, 34, of Lakeland, was charged with scheming to defraud and grand theft. Garry is accused of depositing checks from one bank account into a second account, then writing checks to withdraw funds from the second account. In this check kiting scheme, there was not enough funds in the first account to cover the amount of the checks, detectives said.
In one case, Garry is accused of depositing a Bank of America check written in the amount of $1,200 into a Colonial Bank account. At the time, there was $6.68 in the Bank of America account, detectives said. On the same day, a $1,200 check was written and deposited from the Colonial Bank account into the Bank of America account, although the Colonial Bank account had $57.26.
Detectives said Garry "floated" her bank balances because she got behind on bills and did not want to be overdrawn.
Garry was hired in May 2007 and was assigned to Polk County's south county jail until she was transferred to the central Polk County Jail in July. She had no disciplinary actions in her personnel file, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said in a statement.
Garry has been suspended without pay and termination procedures are pending, Eleazer said. Garry was released from Polk County Jail this afternoon on $2,000 bail.
Garry is the third Polk County detention deputy arrested this year. Shawn Thomas Lucas, 30, was arrested Sept. 4, after he had agreed to sell 15 1/2 OxyContin pills to an undercover detective in the parking lot of an Auburndale Save-A-Lot, the sheriff's office said. Lucas resigned after his arrest.
In May, Donald Kurns Jr. was arrested after an investigation revealed he had sex with an inmate in a staff bathroom at the Central County Jail, authorities said. Kurns resigned after his arrest.
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