Police in Westbrook and Gorham are investigating several incidents of counterfeit money that was circulated in the two communities in the last couple of weeks.
Officer Wayne Coffin of the Gorham Police Department said on July 7 that an arrest was likely. He said he has already questioned a suspect in Westbrook, and if an arrest were to made in this case, the charges would likely be for possession of counterfeit money.
Westbrook Police Capt. Tom Roth said in most cases where a bunch of counterfeit bills turn up at one time, it’s a local person doing the counterfeiting, although he wouldn’t comment on any possible suspects.
The denominations of the counterfeit bills were fifties and twenties. Coffin said that the U.S. Secret Service is waiting to hear from local police regarding the investigation. Local police would also hand over information to the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office, which would review the case.
Coffin said counterfeit money turned up in two incidents on Saturday, July 1, in Gorham where bogus $50 bills were used to pay for items at a yard sale on State Street. Then he said counterfeit $20 bills showed up in three incidents on Sunday, July 2, in Westbrook.
The three incidents on July 2 in Westbrook occurred at Holly’s Super Gas, Big Apple and Shaw’s, all on Main Street, according to Westbrook police.
Another incident occurred on June 30 at the McDonald’s on Main Street where a counterfeit bill was discovered after the fact in a bank deposit. A cashier who used a special pen that reacts with counterfeit bills, discovered the bill used at Shaw’s at the time of sale, according to Roth.
“A lot of times these are difficult to investigate because the bill passes hands so many times,” said Roth, adding that, despite that, police most often are able to trace the bills back from person to person and make a conviction.
Roth said at close inspection the bills are noticeably different from legitimate cash even without a special pen. He said the counterfeiters use home computers, scanners and printers to make the money and take a lot of steps to make them look worn.
However, fake bills don’t have the security devices like watermarks, imbedded strips and fibers, or the holographic images that real bills do. Also, the paper of real bills is difficult to match-fake bills tend to be heavier than real ones, said Roth, although counterfeiters take steps to get them as close as possible.
“That paper is very unique,” he said.
Roth suggested people be suspect of large bills and, if a bill looks like it may be counterfeit, to look at it more closely and contact police. He also suggested businesses purchase the special pens for detecting counterfeit bills, which he thought would be available at most larger office supply stores.
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