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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Businesses and individuals in and around Rappahannock County are still totalling their losses after the manager of Washington’s Village Cafe left town last week, leaving only unpaid bills and bad checks behind.
David Paul Godwin, 27, is being sought by the Rappahannock County Sheriff s Department on a felony bad check charge filed by Paul Baldwin, owner of Baldwin's Grocery in Washington. According to the warrant, Godwin cashed three checks worth a total of $788 at the grocery store, all of which were returned for insufficient funds.
In addition to the criminal charge, two civil warrants in debt have been filed against Godwin, according to records on file at the clerk’s office of the Rappahannock County General District Court.
William Wickens, a partner in a Washington, D.C., law firm and a member of Washington’s Town Council, filed a warrant in debt totalling $4,500 alleging Godwin has misappropriated money given to him and failed to repay a personal loan.
Papers filed in support of the suit include photocopies of two personal checks written by Mr. Wickens to Godwin. One, dated May 28, 1989, is in the amount of $3,000 and carries the notation “wine.” The other, a $1,500 check dated July 9, 1989, carries the notation “30day loan.”
Shirley Zim, the owner of Washington Video Rentals, filed a second warrant in debt against Godwin. She alleges that he rented and failed to return a videocassette recorder valued at $300 and rental movies worth $210. In addition to the merchandise, Mrs. Zim’s warrant alleges, Godwin owes the store $40 in late charges and paid part of his bill with a bad check in the amount of $104.
When the allegations against Godwin surfaced late last week, Sheriff John Henry Woodward began investigating his past. That record, Sheriff Woodward said Monday, includes outstanding warrants issued in March 1988 for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and had checks in Comanche County, Oklahoma; larceny and bail jumping in Brevard County, Florida, in August 1988; violation of probation in Fairfax County, Virginia, in October 1988; and a stolen property charge in the City of Fairfax which dates from November 1987.
Citing privacy regulations, Sheriff Woodward said he could not comment on any possible past convictions on Godwin’s record.
Mr. Wickens explained this w'eek that Godwin had approached him with the idea of building an inventory of wines to sell at the restaurant, but said he lacked the capital to open an account with a wholesaler. Mr. Wickens loaned him $3,000 as an advance to establish credit with the wholesaler, adding that Godwin told him that buying the wines in volume would lower their price at retail.
After time passed and nothing further was heard about the wines, Mr. Wickens said, he asked about the money and was assured that it was in the wholesaler’s acSee
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