GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — An 18-year-old man was arrested at a fast food restaurant after police say he tried to pay with a counterfeit $100 bill.
Police say the arrest happened around 11:45 p.m. Wednesday. Employees in the restaurant’s drive-thru recognized the bill as fake and called police.
“They blocked the suspect in through the drive-thru so the suspect couldn’t drive away. In doing so – they ordered the male suspect out and took him into custody,” says Green Bay Police Commander Kevin Warych.
Officers believe the man used a counterfeit $100 bill at another fast food restaurant on the city’s east side earlier that same night.
Green Bay police say they’ve investigated 13 counterfeit money complaints so far in 2020. They have been using social media to remind the public to be on the lookout for bills that say “for motion picture use only” or have foreign symbols on them.
“We’ve tried to take a proactive effort to alert the community of the signs, the symbols. Anything they can do to just take those couple extra seconds to look at that money to make sure it is real so they don’t become a victim of this fraud,” Warych tells WTAQ News, “Just take a couple extra seconds, look at the bill. Everybody knows what to look for on US currency, whether it’s the stripe or other defining characteristics that make it valid.”
Police are recommending three fraud-related charges in connection to the incident. Things may have been different if the suspect didn’t know it was a fake bill.
“Now, ignorance isn’t any reason to ignore the law – but part of it has to come down to intent. Did the person knowingly pass the fraudulent bill? In this case, the suspect knew the bill was fraudulent,” Warych says.
Police did not release the man’s name. No formal charges have been filed yet.
Anyone with information about these crimes is asked to call police at (920) 448-3208 or Crime Stoppers by phone at (920) 432-7867, online or through the P3 smartphone app.
