By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL / Staff Writer

The holidays are approaching, and with them, scammers are looming on the horizon.

Nov. 1 presented potentially the first of the season, with several local doctors reporting to Chilton County Circuit Clerk Glenn McGriff phone calls demanding cash to avoid jail time for skipping out on jury duty on Oct. 30.

“The last time we had a jury was on Oct. 16,” McGriff said. “We didn’t have a jury on Oct. 30.”

McGriff said the caller identifies himself as James Marshall “with the sheriff’s department,” although he does not specify which sheriff’s department, and leaves a number for victims to reach him by.

“I called him,” McGriff chuckled.

McGriff said he dialed the number given him by one of Marshall’s targeted victims, initially pretending to be the victim, and then called out the individual who answered the phone as James Marshall.

His rebuke was met with a click as the line disconnected.

“It’s just somebody trying to scam people out of money,” McGriff said. “I’m worried about the older people who might fall for it and go get the money and send it to him — that’s what I’m worried about.”

McGriff emphasized that such harassing phone calls are “not the way we operate” at the Circuit Court.

“The best thing that you can do is just hang up on them,” McGriff said. “Or [people] can call me or my office, either one, whatever they want to do.”

McGriff can be reached at the Circuit Court office number (205) 755-4275.