HOUSTON -- Two people who said they were wrongfully accused of forging checks were thrown in jail anyway. Their lawyer claims the two separate incidents were racially motivated, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Charges were later dropped against the man and woman, who were initially accused of trying to pass forged money orders or cashier's checks.

"It's almost like racial profiling," their attorney, Lloyd Kelley, said.

Both filed suit. One of them is a Houston telecom executive who is still so shaken, he does not want his face shown.

He and his brother used a Wachovia Bank cashier's check to buy stone from a Stafford stone company.

But when the salesman called the bank, a Wachovia bank officer allegedly told him the check was a fake.

Stafford police arrested the man and his brother. They then spent two days in jail.

"I was really upset. I've never been arrested in my life. My family did not know where I was, and I was locked up in there," the telecom executive said.

They were released after the bank determined it was a mistake. They were never charged.

"It was horrifying -- nasty. Not a place anyone wants to be," he said.

Nitra Gipson has a similar story. She is a pre-law student who sold her car last month to raise tuition to attend Texas Southern University.

The buyer paid her with Wal-Mart money orders. But when she tried to cash them at the Wal-Mart branch on South Main Street, the manager said they were forgeries and called police.

"They placed me in handcuffs and escorted me out the front door of Wal-Mart and put me in police car said, 'You're going to jail today,'" Gipson said.

She spent three days in jail and lost her job. The charges were later dropped when it was discovered the money orders were genuine.

"Here's a black person with money, suspect. And they need to stop that 'cause both these cases were cases in which the banks themselves had easy access to check the facts," Kelley said.

Gipson and the telecom executive are suing Wal-Mart and Wachovia for tens of thousands of dollars.

A representative from Wachovia Bank said the company was not aware of the lawsuit and could not comment on the pending litigation, KPRC Local 2 reported.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company has just begun to investigate and would not comment further.