Hungry couple uses forged check to purchase food from Sonic

EL DORADO — Officers with the El Dorado Police Department were called to Sonic Drive-in for an apparent forged check on Monday.

A check was allegedly used by Shelby N. Cummings-Murphy, 20, of 815 E. Ninth Street and John J. Barrett, 26, of 5831 Parnell Road to purchase food at the restaurant.

One employee stated that they saw Murphy in the vehicle with a book of checks and that she was attempting to conceal them while delivering another customer’s order.

According to the carhop that ran the order, he took the food to stall 41 where he received a check from the white female that he knew as Shelby (who was later determined to be Murphy).

He also stated that Murphy was with a tall white male with lots of tattoos wearing a turquoise shirt and a fitted hat, who was later identified as Barrett.

The business owner was able to provide the license plate number of the car the suspect left the scene in. After locating the vehicle in question, the driver, Taylor Culpepper, stated that Murphy and Barrett got in her vehicle at Sonic and allegedly offered to purchase both her and their own food with the checks they had.

She instead insisted on splitting the order and paid for hers with the cash she had. She then dropped them off at a residence in the 400 block of West Block Street.

Officers where dispatched to the residency where an officer made contact with both Murphy and Barrett who admitted to using the check to purchase food.

Murphy continued to say that they were given the checks from another individual but admitting to knowing that the checks had not belonged to her.

They were arrested and taken to Union County Criminal Justice Facility for Forgery in the Second Degree.

Upon searching the suspects a photo ID belonging to the victim was located in Barrett’s front pocket with the picture scratched off, to make proper identification more difficult if used.