Georgia man accused of having homeless cash bad checks in Danville

DANVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ) — A Georgia man is accused of using some of the most vulnerable people in our community to scam money for himself.

42-year-old Rasheen Smith is accused of having homeless people cash fraudulent checks for him in Danville.

Police say this isn’t the first time Smith has done this. They say he goes to Lexington to pick up homeless people and then he brings them to various banks in the area to cash the checks.

“It is sad ya know it’s taking advantage of someone that’s already in a low point of their life,” says Captain Chris Matano with the Danville Police Department.

Danville Police say they found out about this because the homeless victim told them what Smith had him do Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Bank.

“He’s actually had a friend of his that did the same type of thing for this individual and was indicted and now faces charges through courts in Lexington,” says Captain Matano.

We reported in January 2019 two incidents of someone homeless cashing a bad check.

We told you then police believed a group from Georgia was coming to Lexington to recruit the homeless, camping out outside of shelters.

“Our investigators here are working in conjunction with Lexington Metro right now to piece those cases together,” says Matano.

Police say the suspects offer the homeless a cut from the check.

In this case, the check was for $5,000 and Smith was offering the homeless victim $500.

“That’s not right. We need to try and help those people and bring them up and get them work and things like that and then they see this easy-type of situation and they fall into it not knowing,” says Matano.

The homeless often end up in jail and paying money they don’t have to the banks.

This is something the Catholic Action Center says it works hard to bring awareness to.

“12 years ago we had a whole slew of our people who ended up in jail over this where the perpetrators were scot-free so this is near and dear to our hearts because they’re taking advantage of those who are vulnerable,” says Ginny Ramsey, director of the Catholic Action Center.

The investigation is ongoing. Police say it’s possible more arrests and charges could happen pending the outcome of the investigation.