Beaufort County deputies have accused Alvin Ivester of trying to cash a forged check on Hilton Head, which led to his arrest on forgery and related charges. The check, for $1,385.75, appeared to be made out to a local country club but raised red flags as soon as banks and investigators looked closely at it.
Why the check looked fake
- The responding deputy noted that the check seemed to be filled out using two different fonts, with smudged ink in the dollar‑amount and account‑number fields.
- Most notably, the check bore two different signatures written in different ink colors, making it appear that someone had tried to copy or alter the authorized signature.
Ivester’s role and admission
- Ivester initially avoided answering questions about where he got the check, but eventually told deputies he was being paid by a man to cash fraudulent checks. He said he could not recall how many fake checks he had already cashed.
- The man, whom Ivester met on the streets of Savannah, was saved in Ivester’s phone as “CHECK MAN”; their text messages, shown to deputies, discussed picking up and dropping off the checks and splitting the profits. Ivester said he did not know how his partner was obtaining the checks.
What happened on the day of the arrest
- Ivester had tried to cash the check at a bank in Hilton Head earlier that day; when he believed his partner had been caught, the other man drove away and left him stranded, forcing Ivester to start walking back home across the bridges.
- It is not yet clear whether Ivester or his partner are connected to the recent reports of checks going missing from mailboxes in the Hilton Head area and being “washed” or altered to show new payees.
Legal status
- As of Wednesday afternoon, Ivester was being held at the Beaufort County Detention Center on a $5,000 cash bond, with no other arrests made so far in the forgery case.
