El Paso County Attorney José R. Rodríguez announced today that, due to the evacuation of the courthouse, the amnesty week for hot check writers has been extended until Monday October 13, 2008.
Individuals who pay their outstanding checks by Monday at 5:00 p.m. will not have their names printed in the newspapers on Sunday October 19, 2008. County Attorney Rodríguez made the decision to extend the amnesty period after an electric fire forced the closing of the courthouse around noon today. Shortly after the Courthouse was evacuated, the County Attorney’s Office started to receive dozens of phone-calls from individuals who were not able to enter the building to make their payments and who were concerned about the publication of their names in the local newspapers.
Residents with outstanding hot check warrants can make their payments at the El Paso County Attorney’s Office, 5th floor of the County Courthouse, 500 E. San Antonio. The payment window at the County Attorney’s Office will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p. m. In addition to avoid the publication of their names in the local newspapers, individuals who make payments during the amnesty period will save money by avoiding the payment of many fees, such as court costs, attorney fees, and the payment of bonds. Most importantly, they will avoid incarceration during the upcoming countywide arrest warrant round up.
Forms of payment accepted include most credit cards, money orders, cashiers checks, and cash, however those paying cash would have to bring the exact amount (cashiers can’t give change). For more information regarding hot check payments and balances please contact the El Paso County Attorney’s Office Hot Check Unit at 546-2051. The complete and updated list of individuals with theft by check outstanding warrants will remain posted in the El Paso County web site at: www.epcounty.com/CA.
At the beginning of the amnesty period there were more than 4,600 names in the County’s hot checks warrants list, who owed local merchants more than 4.04 million dollars. During fiscal year 2007-2008 the County Attorney’s Hot Check Unit collected 1.4 million dollars in outstanding hot checks
Hot Check Amnesty Week Extended Press Release.pdf
About edominguez
Elhiu Dominguez was born in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, México. He moved to the Ciudad Juárez - El Paso area in 1988 to study Mass Communications at the Chihuahua State University (UACH). He later obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1994.
Elhiu began his professional career in 1989 as a reporter for Norte de Juarez newspaper. In 1994 he was employed at Canal 26, the local Univision affiliate in El Paso, as photojournalist, producer, and later as a reporter. In 1998, after a brief period as Weekend Assignments Editor at KDBC Channel 4, the local CBS affiliate, Elhiu returned to work at Univision 26 as a senior reporter. He was later assigned in 1999 as the Texas-New Mexico correspondent for the Univision Network’s news magazine “Primer Impacto”, a position that he held until his resignation in 2005 to become Assignments Editor at KFOX Channel 14, the local FOX network affiliate.
Elhiu left KFOX in 2006 to become the Public Affairs Officer for the El Paso County Attorney’s Office.
During his more than 15 years of experience as journalist, Elhiu has received numerous awards, among them “La Columna de Oro” for a special series of stories regarding the murders of women in Juárez, and several first and second place awards by the New Mexico and Texas Associated Press in the categories of investigative reporting, breaking news, and feature stories.