Fake IDs turn up in arrest
Police report finding printer, forged checks in suspect’s vehicle
TEXARKANA — A Greenville, Texas, man was arrested on several local and area felony charges last week after Texarkana, Texas, police responded to a welfare check at a North State Line Avenue business.
Brian Griffis of Greenville allegedly had 68 checks and forms of identification with
12 different individuals’ and business’ names on them at the time of his arrest, according to a Facebook post by Texarkana, Texas, Police Department.
Griffis was arrested Jan. 9 on charges of forgery of a government record, forgery of a financial instrument, fraudulent use or possession of identifying items (50 or more items), possession of marijuana and possession of a controlled substance, the Facebook post states.
“The 911 caller had told the dispatcher that a distraught woman had just been dropped off with her bag in the parking lot by an older man who just drove off and left her standing there,” according to the Facebook post.
Officer Misty Tyler talked to the woman, who had some health issues and was later taken to the hospital, according to the departments’s Facebook page.
Sgt. Jake Klar found the man coming out of another business down the road a few minutes after the officers responded.
Griffis did not immediately give his true identity “because he was afraid that he had warrants in several other cities but eventually admitted to being Griffis when the officers called him out on it,” the post states.
He apparently had forgery warrants in Hopkins and Rains counties as well as a parole warrant.
“They arrested him for those warrants and then found two fake Texas identification cards with other names and his picture on them in his pockets. He also had meth and marijuana,” according to the post.
Upon inventorying the truck, officers report finding a printer, the 68 checks and the forms of identification with various names.
“As they were still trying to sort through all of this stuff, an employee of the business there came out and said that Griffis had written a check to make a $243 purchase just before Sergeant Klar found him in the parking lot,” the post states.
Griffis is in the Bi-State Jail with a total bond of $147,000, according to the post.
Texarkana police say while Griffis could bond out on their charges, he still would not be released from jail because of the hold placed on him for the parole violation warrant.