$20 pizza ends up costing man $600

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO (KRDO/CNN) – A $20 pizza could cost a man a lot of money after the check he wrote for a pizza bounced.

Russell Tellup got hungry and ordered a pizza. He gave the delivery driver a $20 check, but it bounced.

“As soon as I found out that it bounced I contacted Dominos to find out how to take care of it. They told me I would receive a letter in the mail,” Tellup said.

The letter said he owed $40, $20 for the pizza plus $20 more for the check bouncing.

“I never received the letter,” Tellup said.

The letter was sent to the address on his check, which he admits is where his girlfriend lives. And just a few days later he received a summons from Inflated Dough, Inc, the company that owns Dominos, saying he would need to pay court costs and fees totaling more than $700.

The attorney representing Inflated Dough explained the statute.

“You get this letter, you have 15 days to pay the check, plus $20,” Tellup said.

But the penalties if you don’t comply can be pretty steep.

“The penalty is three times the check or 100 dollars, whichever is greater,” Tellup said. “Bad checks are probably such a high cost in this country I think that’s why many aren’t taking checks.”

Tellup has the option of settling out of court for $600.

Attorney Herman Lohse said the Colorado legislature passed the statute because prosecutors’ offices were overwhelmed with merchants wanting to file criminal charges against check bouncers.

They wanted to take the burden out of the criminal courts and give some power back to the people that got bad checks.