A suspect has been tracked down in fraud cases at Citizens First Bank locations in The Villages.
Franklin Bobby Hogans, 34, of Lady Lake, was booked this past week at the Sumter County Detention Center after his arrest by Lake County sheriff’s deputies.
Hogans was wanted on Sumter County warrants charging him with cashing fraudulent checks at Citizens First Bank locations at Colony Plaza and Pinellas Plaza.
In both cases in January, he presented checks made out to himself on a Shamrock Construction Inc. account. Hogans presented his identification to cash the checks, one made out for $1,900 and the other for $2,200. However, the owner of Shamrock Construction said he never issued the checks, said Hogans never worked for him and that he’d never heard of Hogans. The bank reimbursed Shamrock and reported the incidents to law enforcement. Warrants were issued for his arrest.
A Sumter County sheriff’s deputy came in contact with Hogans on March 26 at the Circle K gas station on Buenos Aires Boulevard in The Villages. The deputy learned that Hogans was wanted on the warrants, but Hogans fled on foot. A K-9 unit and other deputies responded to the scene and set up a perimeter, but Hogans managed to slip away.
Lake County deputies picked him on the warrants at his home on Genius Court in Lady Lake.
He is facing charges of fraud, theft and resisting arrest. He was being held at the jail where a hold has been put on his custody by Marion County authorities. He is a suspect in a similar fraud case involving the Citizens First Bank at Mulberry Grove Plaza.
