Counterfeit twenty-dollar bills and five-dollar bills have surfaced again in Upson County. Several months ago both the Upson County Sheriff’s Office and Thomaston Police Department were investigating counterfeit bills being passed, but the activity had died down until recently. The Thomaston Police Department is investigating two separate incidents that happened last week, and the Sheriff’s Office is investigating a third incident.
The first incident happened on May 9. Thomaston Police Officer Davy Storey was dispatched to WalMart in connection with counterfeit money. When he arrived he found a customer had attempted to put money on a pre-paid Visa card using $120 in counterfeit twenty-dollar bills. The customer said he had cashed his disability check earlier in the week and said he could have gotten the fake bills from five different people or places, including Walmart. Storey noted in his report that the customer had $863 in real money in his wallet, and that he only tried to pass the counterfeit money. The fake bills were confiscated and the incident is under investigation.
The second incident happened a day later on May 10. Upson County Sheriff’s Deputy Tonica Rutledge was dispatched to the Sheriff’s Office, where she met a man who said he had used the ATM at the Flash Foods store on Highway 19 North to get out $180. Later, after work, he stopped to get gas and found that one of the twenty-dollar bills was counterfeit, and brought it to the Sheriff’s Office. Dep. Rutledge confiscated the fake money and an investigation has been opened.
The third incident occurred on May 14. Thomaston Police Officer George Little was dispatched to the Lotto Grocery on Highway 19 North. A clerk there told him she had given a customer change for a $20 so he could play the game machines in the store. The customer came back later and said that the game machines would not take two five-dollar bills. The clerk checked the bills and found them to be fake and called police. The counterfeit bills were confiscated and an investigation opened.
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