<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/courts.gif " border=0> Church pastor pleads innocent in forgery case

March 26, 2008 11:29 pm

— NEOSHO, Mo. — A pastor and son of a semiretired judge was arraigned Wednesday in Newton County Circuit Court on a charge that he forged a woman’s name on a $100,000 check.
Randy V. Baldridge, 53, of Carl Junction, appeared on a felony charge of forgery and entered a plea of innocent. A pretrial conference was set for April 9.
The defendant was released on his own recognizance after the hearing.
Baldridge is accused of forging the check in October in the name of Joplin resident Nancy Sarduk and then trying to use it to secure a three-year investment note from AG Financial Solutions in Springfield.
He is the son of semiretired Jasper County Circuit Judge George Baldridge and the pastor of Sixth Street Baptist Church in Galena, Kan.