A Holts Summit man is charged with stealing from several Jefferson City businesses by opening a checking account and writing more than $3,600 of checks with no money in the account.
Justin Bruce, 33, is also accused of charging more than $1,200 in merchandise on a businesses charge account, using a false identity and having no authority to make the charges and then trading the property for narcotics.
He is charged with two counts of felony stealing and one count of passing bad checks.
Court records show the checks were written between April and May at nine different Jefferson City businesses.
Bruce fled to Missouri from Texas to avoid being arrested and prosecuted on forgery charges there.