The Pomeroy Daily Sentinel says 32-year-old Joseph Hajj was apprehended by U.S. Marshals at a Motel-Six in Kennesaw, Georgia. Outside the motel sat a new pickup truck - this one purchased from a Dodge dealership in Georgia with a bad check.

 

Marshals also arrested an accomplice - 30-year-old James Moore of Middleport. He was caught in Chattanooga, Tennessee, driving a truck from Family Ford in Marietta, paid for with a $52,000 bad check.   In addition to Gallia, Meigs and Washington counties, the two face charges in several West Virginia counties as well as Kentucky and Georgia.

Marshals told the Associated Press that, collectively, the two men allegedly obtained more than $400,000 worth of vehicles, firearms, tools and gasoline through the use of fraudulent checks, designed on computers and made to look like they're from construction company accounts.

The Pomeroy Sentinel obtained a copy of a check used to steal a $9,000 all-terrain vehicle. The forgers used the logo and home address of Peoples Bank of Marietta and displayed the account of a non-existent business, J&J Construction of Columbus.

Hajj was originally indicted for passing large-amount bad checks in Gallia County last February. He was arrested in July, but a Gallia County judge released him on his own recognizance.