CEDAR RAPIDS – Thousands of dollars in fake currency have been passed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa’s second largest city, and cops finally caught one perpetrator while warning the public.
On January 6, the Cedar Rapids police department warned of counterfeit money making the rounds in that city, with over $3,000 worth of it being collected in just the previous week alone.
As they released that warning, Cedar Rapids police received a report that a counterfeit $100 bill was passed at Kum & Go at 1420 Mount Vernon Road SE Wednesday morning. A description of a suspect and suspect vehicle was obtained, and police were on the lookout.
Later, a traffic stop was conducted at 15th Street and Bever Avenue SE. An individual was identified inside the vehicle that matched the description of the male suspect that passed the fake $100 bill earlier.
Arrested was 41-year-old Mendel Holmes. He was charged with class “D” forgery.
“This is a great example of how businesses and the public being informed and vigilant with counterfeit currency which helped police make an arrest in this particular case,” The CRPD said.
Meanwhile, in Mason City, police say they are not dealing with anything out of the ordinary as far as the counterfeit money problem is concerned, but it does take place.
“Over the years, we try to issue press releases to warn the public when it seems a spree is underway (counterfeiters will usually try to spread as much bogus money in a short amount of time, 24 hrs or so, and then they usually will move on or stop because word has gotten out),” an MCPD spokesman told NIT.
“It’s no big secret that the two most common ways they are using to counterfeit are computers/copiers/scanners and washing legitimate low denomination bills and then reprinting them as higher denomination bills. The computer copies are more common here than the washed variety.”
Best defenses, offered by MCPD:
Visually inspect the bills (see Know Your Money [bottom right corner] on Secret Service website http://www.secretservice.gov) and or use counterfeit detector pens. The pens do not work on the legitimate washed bills but usually these come out so smudged and crappy after the washing and reprinting process that you can usually spot these IF you are paying attention. The counterfeit detector pens can be purchased at most office supply stores and many retail stores are starting to carry them. Machines easily spot and refuse these bills right away (electronic coin changers, ATM deposits, bill counters, etc). So the counterfeiters will usually concentrate on humans to pass the bills to.
