HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — Several businesses are making sure employees are checking for counterfeit bills. That’s because police say someone is going around using fake money, and they’re trying to catch the person.
Surveillance footage from Monday night at Meiners Market shows an employee who notices something odd when a male customer hands him cash.
“This bill is fake dude,” the employee says.
The employee goes on to say, “There’s no water marks.”
The customer responds, “Are you (expletive) serious?”
But Lt. Mike Prindle said this customer is the man they’re looking for. Prindle said the suspect has passed counterfeit bills at five businesses.
“Places I think where he’s been able to get in and out quickly, hopefully be able to pass the bills and go unnoticed fairly quickly,” Prindle said.
Prindle said those places so far are Meiners Market, Burger King, Sonic, McDonald’s and Taco Bell. Prindle said they got the first report on Sunday and now they’re looking at mostly $20 and $10 bills — up to $200 worth of fake bills.
Meiners Market assistant manager Jessica Hutson said this is the second time they were targeted this week. She said she’s been spending a lot of time dealing with the aftermath.
“It’s just more chaos here because not only do we have to get a hold of the bank, our deposits are short, we also have to contact the cops, go back and watch the video. It’s really more time-consuming more than anything,” Hutson said.
The suspect is described as a white male, about 5’9 or 5’10. Prindle said he has a slender build with dark brown or reddish hair. He also said the suspect might have facial hair, even a goatee and several tattoos on his arms. Prindle said he thinks the suspect could be with another white female and male. The suspect has been seen in a white Dodge Charger and a dark green Pontiac with a Missouri license plate of UG5-H5J.
Hutson hopes he is caught, and said she is thankful her employee knew what to look for.
“If he wouldn’t have caught and called him out we would’ve never known who it was with the amount of money that comes through and the business that we pull,” Hutson said.
If you have any information about these incidents, you’re asked to call Harrisonville Police Department at (816) 380-8940, or call 911.
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