Local police acted quickly last Saturday afternoon to catch a man “red-handed” attempting to pass phony money at a retail store in North Windham.
Although the perpetrator has not been formally charged, the United States Secret Service is investigating a middle-aged man who used counterfeit $20, $50 and $100 dollar bills on Saturday at Wal-Mart and Levinsky’s on Route 302. Windham police will not disclose many details about the suspect, but did say he is a local person.
“This isn’t some guy from Portland or Boston coming here to pass counterfeit. This is someone from our area,” said Windham Lt. David DeGruchy, adding that the department, per standard operating procedure, immediately handed the case over to the Secret Service. “You could say we caught him red-handed, because he was in the act of exchanging the money when we got to him.”
The man used the fake money to make about $1,000 worth of purchases at Wal-Mart at around 2 p.m. After an hour of shopping at Levinsky’s, the man tried making about $300 worth of clothing purchases at around 3 p.m.
At Wal-Mart, the man purchased electronic items and domestic goods, according to Co-Manager R.J. Nowak. Nowak said the merchandise was returned to the store.
According to DeGruchy, the man used six $100 bills, two $50 bills, and eighteen $20 bills in purchasing items at Wal-Mart. The man used the money at one of the cash registers. The clerk then immediately brought the money to Wal-Mart’s accounting department where the money was quickly deemed to be fake. Wal-Mart immediately called police and Sgt. Ron Ramsdell and Officer Patricia Buck responded.
While the officers were talking with management at Wal-Mart, a manager at Levinky’s, located about a quarter-mile from Wal-Mart across Route 302, called to report they also had a customer trying to pass counterfeit money. Immediately, Ramsdell and Buck responded and within two minutes were at Levinsky’s where they confronted a man who was still inside waiting to receive change for a $314 purchase.
According to store owner Eric Levinsky, the suspect gave a clerk $320 in cash to a retail clerk to pay for $314 worth of shirts, fitted jeans and men’s pants. The clerk, Levinsky said, was skeptical of the money, gave an excuse that she would have to go to the rear of the store to get change, and quickly went to a backroom to consult her manager. After seeing the money, the manager immediately called police.
“It was a good sale – one that we doesn’t happen every hour, obviously,” Levinsky said. “But when she rang the order up and checked the bills, which is standard operating procedure for $20s and up, each bill came up as fake. She said afterward that the bills just didn’t feel right. They were dusty and light in color.”
After alerting the manager, the clerk then stalled for time by ringing up other customers and telling the man that his $6 in change would be coming shortly. Within two minutes of receiving the Levinsky’s call, Windham police arrived and talked with the man who was still waiting at the check-out counter. Levinsky said police talked with the man for 15 minutes in the store and another hour outside the building.
The man has yet to be arrested for passing the fake money. Windham Lt. David DeGruchy said the U.S. Secret Service is very thorough in its investigations of counterfeit crime and usually takes a while before arresting a suspect.
“Secret Service does a lot of research,” DeGruchy said, “And while it may be frustrating to wait until we can apprehend someone, it usually pays off in the end. They are very thorough. You never know if someone is knowingly using counterfeit.”
DeGruchy said this is the largest amount of counterfeit bills ever seized in Windham. He said there have been “bits and pieces” of counterfeit money passed during the past few years but nothing this substantial.
“We’re not small town Windham anymore,” DeGruchy said. “We’re really a suburb of Boston. Everything and anything comes through this town.”
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