Since 1991 the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office has engaged in an aggressive program to combat the problem of bad checks being passed to local merchants. The Winnebago County Bad Check Restitution Program combines education, restitution and prosecution in an effort to discourage the use of bad checks and respond to the thousands of dollars that are lost every year by the merchants of our community. Those losses affect everyone in terms of higher consumer costs that must be passed on in the form of higher costs prices for goods and services and increased taxes to cover the cost of investigation and prosecution.

The primary goal of the Winnebago County Bad Check Restitution Program is to maintain a self-supporting program that obtains restitution for the victim while deterring repeat offenders. First-time bad checks offenders are given the opportunity to avoid criminal prosecution by attending a mandatory intervention class. All of this is offered at no cost to the taxpayers.

Your interest and participation in this program will benefit all law-abiding citizens and help your business improve its bottom line.