POTSDAM – St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputies charged three people with grand larceny Saturday following an investigation into $7,000 worth of bad checks.

Scott W. Bickford, 33, of 680 Southville Road, West Stockholm, Jonathan P. Samelski, 35, and Autumn H. Samelski, 33, both of 285 Allens Falls Road, Potsdam, were charged with third degree grand larceny, a class D felony, and first degree scheming to defraud, a class E felony. The Samelskis were also charged with falsely reporting an incident and offering a false instrument for filing, both misdemeanors.

Deputies report that the Samelskis claimed their house had been burglarized and checks from an old account had been stolen. Ames General Store in Colton had reported receiving bad checks written on the closed account.

After investigation, deputies discovered that the three had written bad checks totaling $7,000.

All three were arraigned before Potsdam Town Justice Sam Charleson. The Samelskis were released to probation supervision and Bickford was held on $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond and returned to the St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility.

The investigation is continuing and deputies encourage anyone with information or who have received checks from these people to contact the office at 379-2222.