Police: Businessman wrote $450,000 in fraudulent checks for workers

Police said William Franklin Adams, 52, of the 90 block of Tanglewood Acres Drive in Whiteville, wrote fraudulent checks amounting to more than $450,000 to numerous people and companies who provided services for a business he owned. Police said at least 53 workers and nine separate businesses were impacted by Adams’ actions.

Adams is charged with three counts of forgery of an instrument, possession of a counterfeit instrument, two counts of uttering a forged instrument and four counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. Police said additional charges may be pending.

Adams said police had wrongly turned a civil matter into a criminal one, noting that his vendors know he is in bankruptcy after losing a state contract to operate a halfway house in Robeson County and that they have to wait until the bankruptcy proceedings are complete before they can be paid.