Counterfeit bills found at Cape Girardeau bank, gas stations

The Cape Girardeau Police Department responded to three reports of counterfeiting this week.

On Wednesday, personnel at Capaha Bank on Williams Street reported receiving an undisclosed amount of false bills. The previous day, counterfeit $20s were passed at the Rhodes 101 and Huck's gas stations off South Kingshighway.

Cape Girardeau Police Cpl. Darin Hickey said in all three cases, no suspects are in custody.

"Many of our counterfeit cases turn out to be people who don't realize it, as they've often received [the phony money] from other people as a cash payment or a tip or something," he said. "We'll look into these to see if there are any similarities in the case."

He said $20 bills are common fare for counterfeiters, and these kinds of instances in a 24-hour span are typical for this type of crime. "Counterfeits come in cycles, because if someone is printing money, they're going to go out and try to pass it off, and they're not going to print just one," he said. "It's picked up and caught pretty quickly, though."

He said the difficult part about fighting counterfeiting is the speed at which a false bill can spread within a community before being noticed. But once it's noticed, residents are reliable about notifying police.

"Suppose Huck's would have taken that bill and then, when someone else comes in and pays for gas with a $100 bill, they might give [the false bill] out in change and then it would go somewhere else," Hickey said. "But we encourage people to be on the lookout, and if you suspect you may have a counterfeit bill, notify the police department, and we'll be able to tell you pretty fast whether it is or not."

tgraef@semissourian.com

388-3627