Having worked in commercial collections for awhile I can tell you that you already have the most effective collection working for you.

Although the arrest warrant on this guy is probably not the most important thing to the police department and they are probably doing little to actively serve it (though I am sure there will be some effort when the warrant is initially issued) eventually this guy will end up having some sort of police contact and then the warrant will come up. The fact that the police actually have a photo of this guy obviously tells you something.

Once he is arrested and brought before a judge the pressure to pay you will be great. If he doesn't pay you at that point it means he has no money and no way of getting it and there is nothing you will be able to do.

If you want to do something more I suppose you could go and file a small cliams action against him, but if you don't know where he currently lives you can't have him properly served (and other forms of service may not be available in the small claims court and are likely to be expensive if they are available). Of ourse even if you get a judgment against him you still need to collect it.

Now . . . you have learned your lesson about accepting large checks from complete strangers. If you find yourself in this position again there are somethings you can do to protect ypurself. The obvious one here is to tell this guy you won't accept a credit card check but give him directions to the nearest ATM where he can use his card to get a cash advance. If that doesn't work agree to hold the gun for him until the bank opens and he can go cash the check at his own bank and bring you cash. Some other things that you might have doen is called the credit card company (the number is on the card and might be on the check) to confirm that the check is valid (this can still be a problem because the account could be closed before the check gets paid).