Father of Missing North Carolina Girl Arrested

This May 2010 photo shows Zahra Baker, 10, getting a hearing aid at an event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (AP/File)

The father of a missing North Carolina girl presumed dead was arrested early Monday on charges unrelated to the child's disappearance.

The Hickory Police Department told FoxNews.com that Adam Baker was arrested at 3:12 a.m. Monday on five counts of writing worthless checks and three counts of failure to appear in court.

Baker, whose 10-year-old daughter Zahra was last seen in public on Sept. 25, is being held in the Catawba County jail on $7,000 bond. It was unclear if he had an attorney.

Zahra was reported missing on Oct. 9 and police accused Elisa Baker, the girl's stepmother, of writing a fake ransom note.

Adam Baker told the dispatcher in a 911 call that a ransom note was found at his home indicating that someone kidnapped his boss' daughter after someone set a fire in his backyard.

Baker also told the dispatcher that he didn't realize his daughter was missing until afterwards because, as he put it, she rarely comes out of her room.

"My daughter, I think, is coming into puberty... so we only see her when she comes out and wants something," Baker told police.

Elisa Baker was charged with felony obstruction of justice after authorities said she confessed to writing the fake ransom note and leaving it on the windshield of the family's car.

Zahra, a bone cancer survivor, had a prosthetic leg and hearing aids that were found at the home after she was reported missing.

Police conducted a three-day search of a landfill near Hickory over the weekend, but turned up no clues to the whereabouts of Zahra.

FoxNews.com's Cristina Corbin and the Associated Press contributed to this report