By ERIC C. RODENBERG
AntiqueWeek Associate Editor

PALMYRA, Mo. — More than eight years ago, Kathy Wear, owner of the Midwest Antique Co., read in AntiqueWeek about a man who was on a crime spree throughout the Midwest. She helped police apprehend the man, but now he may be on the road again, targeting antique shops.

The man, William Thomas Meloy of Bismarck, N.D., was wanted in six states for passing bad checks at antique stores, then selling the merchandise for cash down the road.

When she first read the article she realized the man had been in her store; however, he had not bought or attempted to sell anything. She put the article in a drawer and thought little of it - at least until several months later, when Meloy returned to the store. He told her he was from North Dakota and was driving a blue van. She remembered those tidbits of information in AntiqueWeek.
“It was a fluke that he gave me so much information,” Wear told the Bismarck Tribune at the time. “He was driving the same blue van described in the article. You would think he would watch those kinds of things.”

Meloy attempted to sell her some butter churns and glass, but she declined. She watched him pull out of his parking space, noted the direction and wrote down the license number. She, then promptly took the information – and a copy of the AntiqueWeek story – to the nearby sheriff’s office. Police caught up with Meloy in a Hannibal business, about 15 miles south of Wear’s antique store, attempting to purchase several items with a check. He was wanted for bad check charges in Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas.

His blue van was impounded, and law enforcement officers estimated it contained merchandise valued at more than $25,000. That was eight years ago, and Meloy bad check cases were resolved within the Midwest. However, police believe that Maloy, now 64, is playing the same game throughout the Midwest. The Bismarck, N.D. Police Department has an open investigation, targeting Meloy for check deception, according to Patrolman Mark Otterness.
The last time Meloy was seen in Bismarck was Feb. 21. He was part owner of a gift shop, and owned two food courts in the Gateway Fashion Mall, a shopping center with about 40 shops.

“He left me with no money,” said Catherine Maxey, who owns 40 percent of the gift shop with Meloy. “The two food courts have been shut down … he owes back taxes he hasn’t paid. I trusted him, but he’s been skimming off the business for a long time.

Meloy has left a paper trail that last showed him in Ames, Iowa, according to police and Gateway Fashion Mall Manager Jeff Monson.

“He knows his antiques,” Monson says. “I’d say he was a born con man … We believe that he will be travelling from shop to shop and town to town in efforts to buy antiques with bad checks, and then selling these antiques for cash at the next shop.”

Meloy served time at the North Dakota State Penitentiary in 1998. According to a warrant filed in Great Falls, Mont., Meloy has used several aliases, including Art Embree, Bobby L. Marshall, Wayne Eugene, Monroe and William Thomas.
Meloy, who wears glasses, is of medium build, about six feet tall. He was last seen driving a late model maroon Ford 500 sedan with North Dakota plates and a handicapped tag on his rear view mirror. Some years ago Meloy underwent gastric bypass surgery and still shows evidence of significant weight loss.
Anyone seeing Meloy is encouraged to call the Bismarck police at 701-223-1212. The case number is 11-3942.