Salon Owner Charged With Theft

Gwinnett Police have arrested and charged a man who previously owned a salon in Snellville with 11 counts of theft by deception, according to county jail records.

Elgreat Todd Richard, whose last-known address was 732 Grassmeade Way, Snellville, was arrested July 26 and charged with nine felony counts and two misdemeanors of theft by deception. He is also charged with violation of parole.

According to a police report, Richard is accused of writing $11,000 worth of bad checks to Cosmo Professional Beauty, located at 6330 Lawrenceville Highway in Tucker. A loss prevention manager from the business contacted police on July 10 and provided copies of 11 checks, written from a closed account.

This latest incident is not Richard's first run-in with police. On July 11, he also was arrested for financial identity fraud. The arrest stemmed from an incident in February when a woman he was dating said Richard stole her checkbook and account number and then used it to pay a Geico Insurance bill. Questioned by police at the time, Richard said he did not use the victim's checking account information.

The woman said she had only dated Richard a short time after meeting him on BlackPeopleMeet.com, a dating site helped made popular by well-known comedian, author and radio host Steve Harvey. Despite their brief romance, the victim said she never authorized Richard's insurance payments.

In June, a warrant was issued was Richard's arrest in the identity fraud case.

Richard was previously the CEO of Exclusively Elgreat Inc., a salon which opened in Snellville in 2006. However, by 2009, the company stopped filling state corporation papers. The address for the business is the same one listed as Richard's home address.

He is currently at the Gwinnett County Detention Center where he is being held with no bond regarding the felony counts and a total of $2,600 bond for the misdemeanors counts.

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