(1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) Check means a written, unconditional order to pay a sum certain in
money, drawn on a bank, payable on demand, and signed by the drawer. Check,
for the purposes of this section only, also includes a negotiable order of withdrawal
and a share draft.
(b) Drawee means the bank upon which a check is drawn or a bank, savings
and loan association, or credit union on which a negotiable order of withdrawal or a
share draft is drawn.
(c) Drawer means a person, either real or fictitious, whose name appears on
a check as the primary obligor, whether the actual signature be that of himself or of
a person authorized to draw the check on himself.
(d) Insufficient funds means a drawer has insufficient funds with the
drawee to pay a check when the drawer has no checking account, negotiable order
of withdrawal account, or share draft account with the drawee or has funds in such
an account with the drawee in an amount less than the amount of the check plus
the amount of all other checks outstanding at the time of issuance; and a check
dishonored for no account shall also be deemed to be dishonored for insufficient
funds.
(e) Issue. A person issues a check when he makes, draws, delivers, or
passes it or causes it to be made, drawn, delivered, or passed.
(f) Negotiable order of withdrawal and share draft mean negotiable or
transferable instruments drawn on a negotiable order of withdrawal account or a
share draft account, as the case may be, for the purpose of making payments to
third persons or otherwise.
(g) Negotiable order of withdrawal account means an account in a bank or
savings and loan association and share draft account means an account in a credit
union, on which payment of interest or dividends may be made on a deposit with
respect to which the bank or savings and loan association or the credit union, as the
case may be, may require the depositor to give notice of an intended withdrawal not
less than thirty days before the withdrawal is made, even though in practice such
notice is not required and the depositor is allowed to make withdrawal by
negotiable order of withdrawal or share draft.
(2) Any person, knowing he has insufficient funds with the drawee, who, with
intent to defraud, issues a check for the payment of services, wages, salary,
commissions, labor, rent, money, property, or other thing of value, commits fraud by
check.
(3) Fraud by check is:
(a) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2007, p. 1693, § 8, effective July 1, 2007.)
(a.5) Repealed.
(a.7) A petty offense if the fraudulent check was for less than three hundred
dollars or if the offender is convicted of fraud by check involving the issuance of
two or more checks within a sixty-day period in the state of Colorado totaling less
than three hundred dollars in the aggregate;
(b) A class 2 misdemeanor if the fraudulent check was for the sum of three
hundred dollars or more but less than one thousand dollars or if the offender is
convicted of fraud by check involving the issuance of two or more checks within a
sixty-day period in the state of Colorado totaling three hundred dollars or more but
less than one thousand dollars in the aggregate;
(b.5) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2014.)
(c) A class 1 misdemeanor if the fraudulent check was for the sum of one
thousand dollars or more but less than two thousand dollars or if the offender is
convicted of fraud by check involving the issuance of two or more checks within a
sixty-day period in the state of Colorado totaling one thousand dollars or more but
less than two thousand dollars in the aggregate;
(d) A class 6 felony if the fraudulent check was for the sum of two thousand
dollars or more but less than five thousand dollars or if the offender is convicted of
fraud by check involving the issuance of two or more checks within a sixty-day
period in the state of Colorado totaling two thousand dollars or more but less than
five thousand dollars in the aggregate;
(e) A class 5 felony if the fraudulent check was for the sum of five thousand
dollars or more but less than twenty thousand dollars or if the offender is convicted
of fraud by check involving the issuance of two or more checks within a sixty-day
period in the state of Colorado totaling five thousand dollars or more but less than
twenty thousand dollars;
(f) A class 4 felony if the fraudulent check was for the sum of twenty
thousand dollars or more but less than one hundred thousand dollars or if the
offender is convicted of fraud by check involving the issuance of two or more
checks within a sixty- day period in the state of Colorado totaling twenty thousand
dollars or more but less than one hundred thousand dollars;
(g) A class 3 felony if the fraudulent check was for the sum of one hundred
thousand dollars or more but less than one million dollars or if the offender is
convicted of fraud by check involving the issuance of two or more checks within a
sixty- day period in the state of Colorado totaling one hundred thousand dollars or
more but less than one million dollars;
(h) A class 2 felony if the fraudulent check was for the sum of one million
dollars or more or if the offender is convicted of fraud by check involving the
issuance of two or more checks within a sixty-day period in the state of Colorado
totaling one million dollars or more; and
(i) A class 6 felony if the fraudulent check was drawn on an account which
did not exist or which has been closed for a period of thirty days or more prior to the
issuance of said check.
(4) Any person having acquired rights with respect to a check which is not
paid because the drawer has insufficient funds shall have standing to file a
complaint under this section, whether or not he is the payee, holder, or bearer of the
check.
(5) Any person who opens a checking account, negotiable order of
withdrawal account, or share draft account using false identification or an assumed
name for the purpose of issuing fraudulent checks commits a class 2 misdemeanor.
(6) If deferred prosecution is ordered, the court as a condition of supervision
shall require the defendant to make restitution on all checks issued by the
defendant that are unpaid as of the date of commencement of the supervision in
addition to other terms and conditions appropriate for the treatment or
rehabilitation of the defendant.
(7) A bank, savings and loan association, or credit union is not civilly or
criminally liable for releasing information relating to the drawer’s account to a
sheriff, deputy sheriff, undersheriff, police officer, agent of the Colorado bureau of
investigation, division of gaming investigator, division of lottery investigator, parks
and outdoor recreation officer, Colorado wildlife officer, district attorney, assistant
district attorney, deputy district attorney, or authorized investigator for a district
attorney or the attorney general investigating or prosecuting a charge under this
section.
(8) This section does not relieve the prosecution from the necessity of
establishing the required culpable mental state. However, for purposes of this
section, the issuer’s knowledge of insufficient funds is presumed, except in the
case of a postdated check or order, if:
(a) He has no account upon which the check or order is drawn with the bank
or other drawee at the time he issues the check or order; or
(b) He has insufficient funds upon deposit with the bank or other drawee to
pay the check or order, on presentation within thirty days after issue.
(9) Restitution for offenses described in this section may be collected as a
condition of pretrial diversion by a district attorney, an employee of a district
attorney’s office, or a person under contract with a district attorney’s office. Such
collection is governed by the provisions of article 18.5 of title 16, C.R.S., and is not
the collection of a debt.
(2) For the legislative declaration contained in the 2007 act amending
subsections (3)(a), (3)(b), and (3)(c) and enacting subsection (3)(b.5), see section 1 of
chapter 384, Session Laws of Colorado 2007.
L. 71: R&RE, p. 438, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-5-205. L. 72: p. 281, § 2. L. 75: (3) amended, p. 619, § 13, effective July 21. L. 77: (1), (2), (3)(b), (3)(c), and (5) R&RE and (3)(d) added, pp. 979, 980, §§ 1, 2, effective June 2. L. 80: (1)(a), (1)(b), (1)(d), (5), and (7) amended and (1)(f) and (1)(g) added, p. 539, § 1, effective April 13. L. 81: (3)(a), (3)(b), and (3)(c) amended and (8) added, p. 993, §§ 1, 2, effective July 1. L. 84: (3)(b) and (3)(c) amended, p. 538, § 12, effective July 1, 1985. L. 89: (3)(c) and (3)(d) amended, p. 834, § 55, effective July 1. L. 92: (3) amended, p. 435, § 6, effective April 10. L. 93: (3) amended, p. 971, § 1, effective July 1. L. 94: (7) amended, p. 1719, § 13, effective July 1. L. 98: (3)(b) and (3)(c) amended, p. 1438, § 15, effective July 1; (3)(b) and (3)(c) amended, p. 796, § 6, effective July 1. L. 2000: (6) amended, p. 1050, § 17, effective September 1. L. 2002: (9) added, p. 760, § 7, effective July 1. L. 2003: (7) amended, p. 1632, § 77, effective August 6. L. 2007: (3)(a), (3)(b), and (3)(c) amended and (3)(b.5) added, p. 1693, § 8, effective July 1. L. 2013: (1)(b), (1)(g), and (7) amended, (SB 13-154), ch. 282, p. 1487, § 65, effective July 1. L. 2014: (3) amended, (HB 14-1266), ch. 155, p. 535, § 2, effective August 6. L. 2021: (3)(a.7), (3)(b), (3)(c), (3)(d), and (3)(e) amended and (3)(f), (3)(g), (3)(h), and (3)(i) added, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, p. 3183, § 235, effective March 1, 2022; (3)(a.5)(II) added by revision, (SB 21-271), ch. 462, pp. 3183, 3331, §§ 235, 803.
Subsection (3)(a.5)(II) provided for the repeal of subsection (3)(a.5), effective March 1, 2022. (See L. 2021, pp. 3183, 3331.)
(1) For issuance of a bad check, see § 18-5-512.
