So here I go, to good ole wal-mart. Grab a new pair of work boots go up to check out and do I get to do that? no. One of my $20 dollar bills is fake, counterfeit, non real. So I pull out another and give it to them and all is fine with Wal-mart they say they need to call the police and file a report so they can start tracking the bills. I tell them that’s no problem and wait for the police to come. First they check the bill ya know, everything they should do. But the next step I do not appreciate at all, I’m the suspect. Instead of wondering where I could have gone in town to pick up a fake 20 They start asking me how much money I have on me. If I had any other 20s. I tell them no I have a 5 and some ones as I gave the clerk my other 20 for the boots. ( I had 3 one being fake) They start checking all my other money for its authenticity. Want to know how much I have in my car. What do I come to find but IM THE SUSPECT! They think I’m making them! Which I understand to the extent of having to cover all possibilities but THEY DIDNT CARE I TOLD THEM I GOT IT FROM DOMINOS! I deliver pizzas. over the span of the weekend I got 3 20s 1 10, 3 5s and a whole lot of 1s And what does the cop tell me? and I quote :" my job is to assume your lying to me" What the Edit would I have to lie about? I mean come the Edit on. Who the Edit would go to wal mart of all places during the holiday season when you KNOW they check the money and try to do that? Even the wal mart people said it looked a lot like a 20. So what have I decided? Fort Dodge Police are so Edit stupid its no wonder there are so many drugs and everything in this town. I think the rent a cops running around town do a better job than they do without a doubt.

 

If I had a cop tell me "it's my job to assume you're lying to me" the only thing out of my mouth would be "Lawyer". He's looking to hang you instead of actually putting a litttle work into and figuring out where the bill actually came from. I've got to where I don't have much patience with the local cops any more, it's just ridiculous the way the treat people and act anymore.

 

Passing conterfeit money is a federal offense!!! You tried to pass a $20.

 

I agree 100%!!! You guys shoulda seen the cop that chewed me a new one when i didnt totally STOP for a STOP sign.... I did what I usually do. I "float" into 1 st gear without using the clutch, which in my truck brings me to about 1-3 MPH, I had someone with me.. After he gave my my ticket, he proceded to call me some things that im sure the judge wont want to hear when I go to court.... Im not bashing Police in no way however i think that there are some out there that need to realize that they are human too, and have mad mistakes, some need to get over how they are ABOVE everybody looking down on some when they have their uniform on..

 

This is very true. In that aspect I totally broke the law no doubt. Where im upset is them blaming me for making them. The only place i could have gotten it was work. Which i told them. So instead of taking my report and going after the leads, they blamed me. To me its simple, Request my delivery report from dominos, and start checking with people i delivered too. Its not like it was a bad fake that i had. The only way they knew was the pen didnt mark ( of course) and it didnt feel right. but otherwise it had all the lil back pictures like where it says 20 behind the portrait and on the back it had all the lil 20's on both sides in the portrait. So when its 10 degrees out and dark and you get it with a bunch of other bills, you dont notice. I mean over all its totally my fault for accepting it anyway. what busts my hump is we dont check them at the store. Im gonna start though. Because this is so grrr. Lucky enough a fellow dominos guy came in right behind me so when i go in and let the boss man know what happened it wont be like you liar haha. actually as im typing this i looked up counterfit money on yahoo and theres a ton on it. like the secret service web sites and all that jazz. i guess i didnt realize it was that huge of a problem

 

Ok not to keep the bash going on but i am. here in dodge theres 2 things ive noticed since moving here ( lived in the area for 6 mos the town for 1) First the drugs are hugely bad Ive seen people smokin blows driving down the road. Second The cops.. power trip. weve seen them just run a red like and just drive. no lights or anything, just go. its pathetic what they get away with around here

 

....a story with a similar bent:

I had applied for a Security Clearance for a job many years ago, and inadvertently transcribed two dates incorrectly, effectively indicating that I was living in two places at the same time, it was about a 1 month "overlap"; The DoD requested an interview, and a real pleasant lady showed up, flashed the badge, etc., and opened the event by saying "Okay, so we know you are lying to try and hide something, it is my job to find out what you are hiding, which I will do. Lying to obtain a security clearance is a violation of blah blah blah, and is punishable by 10 years in Federal prison and a $10k fine".

Things went downhill from there.

I eventually received the clearance, but - my respect for the DoD and Federal Law Enforcement took a real hit that day

 

and the crap continues

just found this, I tried to sleep, but cant, im gonna be drained tomorrow for sure

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/document.cfm/18/103

The penalty for making fake cash is......... 5000 fine and 15 years in prison

The penalty for using it, 15,000 fine 15 years in prison. Now it does say with intent to use. Ill hope that means you know you have it and intend to use it. but as bent as its all sounding there gonna say well you got it at work and you intended to buy a pair of boots with it. Lot of interesting reads though on detecting fake money.

 

They have to prove you intended to pass the fake money. Of course you are a suspect, you are the one who had the fake money. You have answered their questions once. Next time they ask you anything you want an attorney present for questioning.

Cops WILL lie to you to try and get the "truth". "Lying cops" have been upheld by the US Supreme Court so this is what our society has deemed acceptable. NEVER believe anything a cop says. They can and will lie to make you look guilty.

 

Well, since the cops don't know you why do you think they would believe your story? Everybody they interrogate says they are innocent.
Good luck and just don't change your story.......

 

First, because you were the one in possession you become an automatic suspect. Suspect does not mean that you are guilty. The cops will ask you the same questions over and over. This is to find out if you are lying or not (the truth is easy to repeat lying is hard). That's how cops do their job. Stick with the truth and you will be fine.

Second, cops and other law enforcement have an extreamly difficult and thankless job. The general public does not know the extent of everything the job entails. Most people dont want to know and would like to not have known if they find out. It is very rare that law enforcement gets praise but they regulary recieve great ammounts of critticism just for doing their job. Unfortunatly, Like most things there are also a few bad apples in the group and some that ar less than proffesional in the performance of their duties.

Lastly, Don't worry about the situation unless the secret service shows up and wants to chat. They are the ones who go after the counterfeit money makers, not local cops.

 

while you are guilty of passing conterfeit money, you are innocent until proven guilty on the making the money charge. get a lawyer on retainer, just in case things get ugly. you get a better chance of getting a quality lawyer while you are a free man. you will get a terrible one if you wait until the arrest you and allow your 1 phone call to hire one. sorry about this buddy.

 

Well King, at least they let you go home. Last year I was at my office when the Local Houston Police Dept showed up, un-marked and undercover, pull a gun on me and procedd to tell me that they "saw me" pass 15 keys of cocaine to a guy that they caught with the goods.

The only problem with this is I was at a jobsite meeting and then lunch with 3 members of the meeting at the EXACT time that this supposed deal went down. I had their eyewitness accounts, cell phone records (as well as cell towers I was pinging off of) and the receipt from the place we had lunch (which was time stamped at the exact time that the deal was going down).

The police called the federal DA while they were questioning me and I heard him laugh at the police saying that they had no firm evidence to warrant a case on me. They then called the Harris county DA who said BY ALL MEANS, We'll take it.

Long story short they placed a 3 million dollar bail on me and I sat in Harris county jail for 6 months awaiting trial. As my time came up for the docket, my case kept getting "bumped" because of the caseload that the courts have. My attorney approached the judge to get my bond lowered so that I could await my trial from the outside. The DA was present and told the judge that she hated to see the court go through all of the trouble to lower my bond and stated that she did not have enough evidence to prosecute my case at the time, so she dismissed the charges.

Well, I spent approximately 80K in legal bills, 6 months in jail and now have an arrest record. Not to mention that I did not get my day in court to clear my name.

If you want to see how our judicial system here in Texas works, you can see an investigative report which aired on our local CBS affiliate regarding my case.

Go to KHOU.com, click on news tab, then click on investigative reports, and click on "can the innocent go to jail". It explains it all, except the fact that I have little or no recourse to get reparations for what I have lost, (both time and money), during this ordeal. The reason for that is that the state has immunity to protect itself from their ineptitude in cases such as mine.


Gary

 

Cases like the one that started this thread, scuzman's and countless others are the reason I am really soured on the whole legal system. They basically ruin your life, then after they know they screwed up, they just say, "Oh well." There's GOT to be a better way.

chaikwa.

 

This is the exact reason I carry no more than $20 cash and use my debit card nearly everywhere. I don't think I've been to a place that I had to use cash in months.