GASTON COUNTY -- For thousands, an incident on U.S. 321 in Gaston County on Tuesday made for a horrible commute as Dallas police investigated a shooting and chase. One person was left dead.
It all started with a check-cashing scheme at a nearby grocery store.
Two of the three people involved faced a judge on Wednesday afternoon. The suspects were surprised by the severity of the fraud charges.
Eric White, 59, sat on the bench in front of a judge when he was told he was charged with trying to cash fake checks, a felony. In a separate courtroom, 43-year-old Odell Lloyd sat in the Gaston County jail while the judge read him his charges, again, a surprise for the suspect.
“Mr. Lloyd, you're charged with felony attempting to obtain property with false pretenses and two counts of felony to obtain property with false pretenses.”
“I thought they were misdemeanors, it said misdemeanor...”
“No sir, they are felonies.”
Both Lloyd and White will be back in court next month.
Two of Lloyd's charges were outstanding from Nov. 19 where warrants show he cashed two fake checks. Three of the Dallas police officers are out on administrative leave.
Dallas police and the SBI have still not released the name of the person killed on Highway 321 on Tuesday. Officials also haven't said if the suspect died from the crash or from the officer's gunshots.
The State Bureau of Investigations say they are still trying to identify the third suspect who died in the police chase and contact the suspect's family.