Updated July 24, 2019

Giles County law officers have spent the last two weeks working a multi-county, multi-state fraud operation that employs the homeless to cash fake checks and pass phony money.

Investigators said victims from Giles, Marshall, Maury,Rutherford,  Davidson and Montgomery County are out more than $50,000.

For the last two weeks, Giles County Lt. Shane Hunter has been working to piece this complex crime together.

This scam is known around the country as “Operation Homeless.”

According to Hunter at least four Nashville homeless people have been used in this operation.

Hunter said the homeless are chosen specifically for this role. They make sure they have an ID, and then they don’t care if they are arrested or not for these charges, Hunter explained.

According to investigators, one of the homeless men used in this scam was Daniel Adams, of Nashville. According to Hunter, Adams is a registered sex offender who has an ID.

There is a video that shows him cashing two bogus checks at a local Giles County bank. The two transactions costing more than $5,000.

According to Hunter, the other leader of the syndicate is Dejean Dante Washington.

Hunter said Washington has over 100 pages of criminal history. He has been arrested in eight states and has warrants for forgery out of North Dakota but they will not extradite.

On July 17, detectives set up a sting at a motel and arrested Washington and Nashville homeless man, Charles Slaughter.

“I would have never done that. It’s because they offered me a job,” Slaughter said from jail.

On his way to the bank in rural Giles County, Slaughter took a video of the people he was riding with in a rented Jeep. Detectives believe he was nervous and feared for his life.

Dejean Washington is in jail on 15 counts, including 10 counts of forgery.

If you have any information in this case you are urged to contact the Giles County Sheriff’s Dept.