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The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday announced that Tahjena Nasia-Elise Assing, 19, has been arrested and charged with nine combined felony counts of forgery of an instrument, uttering a forged instrument an obtaining property by false pretense.

An investigation began on Nov. 22, when a local store reported receiving three fraudulent checks from Assing within a five-day period. Assing was arrested Nov. 30 when she returned to the same store and attempted to cash another fraudulent payroll check from a different company. While searching her car, investigators found multiple ID cards and 35 different checks from five companies. Investigators believe Assing has been passing these checks in other jurisdictions throughout North Carolina. The investigation is ongoing and Assing is facing multiple additional felony charges in Beaufort County. She was originally held on a $50,000 secured bond. Anyone with information about this case or any business that may have received one of these checks is asked to call the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at 252-946-7111