The man who talked big about bringing a water amusement park to East Ridge now is in hot water with city police.

David A. Mayes, 50, one of two men pitching the Splash Valley Water Park to the town, is wanted on a worthless checks warrant, said Officer Erik Hopkins, East Ridge police spokesman. The affidavit against Mr. Mayes accuses him of writing a bad $34,000 check to his business partner and contractor. Mr. Hopkins declined to name the alleged victim.

“That’s a large amount of money to owe anyone, and it’s significantly larger than the type of bad-check charges we usually go after,” Mr. Hopkins said.

Mr. Mayes’ cell phone has been disconnected. Calls to his initial partner in the venture, Shawn Callahan, were not returned Friday.

East Ridge police view Mr. Mayes as a fugitive and have assigned his case to the department’s fugitive investigation division. His last known address is in Harrison, Mr. Hopkins said.

“We have an entire division of the department that’s dedicated to locating fugitives,” Mr. Hopkins said.

In February 2008, the reception was much warmer. East Ridge officials brought out the gold shovels when Mr. Mayes broke ground on the planned 15-acre, $12 million water attraction.

But the deal fell apart almost immediately. The project first was delayed because developers didn’t think they could get the park built in time for a summer opening. Then financing fell through, Mr. Mayes said, and finally the land was foreclosed upon by the bank roughly six months after the project was first approved by city leaders.

Mr. Mayes said previously that he still was planning to build the park, just not in East Ridge. He said developers in Georgia had offered a sweeter deal, but government officials there said the talks never escalated beyond informal information-sharing stages.

East Ridge Mayor Mike Steele said Friday that the entire ordeal was a disappointment, but one the city could move beyond.

“There was a lot of hope in the community that Splash Valley would be the beginning of a lot of change along Ringgold Road,” he said.