No Law Enforcement Agency Will Call You Seeking Payment Over the Phone In Lieu of Issuing a Warrant For Your Arrest - October, 2022

As always, I sure hope this month's article finds everyone doing well!  Fall is certainly in the air, as felt during the cooler morning temperatures!  Our local fall farm harvest will soon be in full-force, leading to an increase in farm implement on our secondary roadways.  I ask that all motorists remain cognizant of this! 

Over the past few weeks, many of our county residents have received obvious spam/fraud calls reference some alleged "absence from jury duty."  During those calls, the "scammers" have claimed arrest warrants were being issued as a result; albeit, the so-called "issue" could be handled by telephone.  Standard with most scam/fraud calls of this nature, the scammers were seeking some payment over the telephone to resolve the matter, to purportedly cancel the issuance of an arrest warrant. 

If you get such a call; HANG UP!  This is a scam! 

While the absence from jury duty may be a legal matter handled by the Court, such issue is NOT handled by telephone, or by an automatic arrest warrant.  In real life, should a citizen miss jury duty, the Court *may* issue a summons for the citizen to appear in Court to explain their absence (known as a "Show Cause Order").  Should such a summons be issued, it will be served in-person by a deputy upon the direction of the Court (a statutory responsibility of the Office of Sheriff). 

Simply put; we do NOT handle such matters via telephone.......   Please do not be the next victim of telephone fraud! 

As always, citizens are welcome to contact me with any questions. I believe elected officials shall make themselves available to the public.

Respectfully, your Sheriff,

Clay Chism