(a) Offense Defined.
(1) No person shall issue or pass a check or similar sight order for the payment of money knowing that it will not be honored by the drawee.
(2) No person shall, knowing that it will not be honored by the drawee, issue or pass a check or similar sight order for the payment of money when the drawee is located within the City. A violation of this paragraph shall occur without regard to whether the location of the issuance or passing of the check or similar sight order is within or outside of the City. It shall be no defense to a violation of this section that some or all of the acts constituting the offense occurred outside of the City.
(3) Issuing or passing a check or similar sight order for the payment of money, knowing that it will not be honored by the drawee, is a summary offense, and therefore a violation of this section, only if the amount of the check or order is five hundred dollars ($500.00) or less and if the offense is not a third or subsequent offense within a five-year period. Otherwise, the actor shall be prosecuted under State law.
(b) Presumption. For purposes of this section, as well as in any prosecution for theft committed by means of a bad check, an issuer is presumed to know that the check or order (other than a post-dated check or order) would not be paid if one or both of the following are true:
(1) The issuer had no account with the drawee at the time the check or order was issued.
(2) Payment was refused by the drawee for lack of funds, upon presentation within thirty days after issue, and the issuer failed to make good within ten days after receiving notice of that refusal.
(c) Venue. An offense under subsection (a) hereof may be deemed to have been committed at either the place where the defendant issues or passes the bad check or similar sight order for the payment of money or the place where the financial institution upon which the bad check or similar sight order for the payment of money was drawn is located.
(d) Costs. Upon conviction under this section, the sentence shall include an order for the issuer or passer to reimburse the payee or such other party as the circumstances may indicate for:
(1) The face amount of the check;
(2) Interest at the legal rate on the face amount of the check from the date of dishonor by the drawee; and
(3) A service charge not to exceed twenty dollars ($20.00) if written notice of the service charge was conspicuously displayed on the payee's premises when the check was issued.
(Ord. 4394. Passed 9-10-86.)