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Counterfeit bills from Peruvian drug cartel
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Some of the fake $50 bills passed in this area are displayed at the Hinesville Police Department. - photo by Phgoto by Patty Leon

Hinesville Police are reporting a surge in counterfeit money being spent here that could have ties to a state-wide problem and a Peruvian drug cartel.
Officer Al Cato said there have been at least 11 cases since Sept. 1. Roughly $3,000 of fake bills, primarily $50 denomination, has been found when businesses prepared deposits or the money was rejected by the banks. Eight of the cases involve Walmart.
“This is some of the best counterfeit money I’ve ever seen,” Cato said adding that most cashiers accept it because it passes a marker test. “If you are working at a busy store and the bill passes the pen test you are likely to place the money in the drawer and move on.”
The fake bills have a watermark and embedded serial number thread like true bills, Cato explained. The one thing the counterfeiters didn’t perfect is the paper and ink.
“It’s a little too shiny and glossy, but still very well done,” he said.
Cato said HPD started looking into the case, “And we received a bulletin and found out there has been a surge of counterfeit money hitting the country and it’s all coming from Peru,” he said.
HPD is working with the Secret Service and Cato said based on the duplication of the bills’ serial numbers and other factors the Secret Service believes the counterfeit money here has ties with other cases in Statesboro and Forsyth.
Assistant Special Agent in Charge Malcolm Wiley, from the Atlanta Field Office, said they are working with agencies across the state.
“I cannot speak specifically to you about any tie between the counterfeit in Peru… because any information we might have is part of an ongoing investigation,” Wiley said.
The Athens Banner Herald reported Sept. 8 that bogus bills have circulated in that area. During a hearing a week earlier Quinn Michael Gibson told the U.S. District Court in Athens that he smuggled more than $14,000 in fake $20 and $50 bills from Ecuador into the United States.
A similar article was published in the Sept. 10 San Francisco Chronicle. Both articles reported that “According to (a Secret Service agent), the bills are originating out of Peru and are being printed by the organized crime families in that area, basically the drug cartels.”
Cato said investigators are looking into how the fake money came here. He cautioned retailers and the public.
Wiley said anyone can accidentally receive a fake bill.
“As an example, people think that you can’t get counterfeit money from a bank but unfortunately it is something that happens quite a bit,” Wiley said. “The general scenario is this: Somebody brings in counterfeit currency into a bank and deposits it into their account. Now if the teller does not catch it immediately, which the tellers usually do because they handle so much currency, but if they don’t catch it immediately they take that money and they put it in their drawer. And then the next person that comes in to make a withdrawal is given a counterfeit bill...”
Wiley said the best advice is to check your cash before you leave the building.
“Take the time to take a look at your money, see if it feels different, see if it looks different,” Wiley said. “If you have questions about it then ask them for another bill. You are allowed to do that right there on site.”
Wiley said currency is printed on special paper.
“When a U.S. bill is minted they embed red and blue fibers in the paper,” he said. “If you take out a dollar bill and take a close look at it you will see red and blue fibers in the paper. If you were to take a stick pin you could actually pick those fibers out of the bill.”
He added people should hold it up to light to make sure the face on the bill is duplicated in the watermark. He said light will also reveal the vertical security thread that should match the denomination.
“If the security thread says USA 5 and you are holding a hundred dollar bill then it’s a fake,” he said.

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HPD Reports
crime scene

From Hinesville Police Department reports. Editor’s note: Due to computer issues at the city, reports have been unavailable in recent weeks. They are back. Our thanks to the HPD clerks who provide them. We’re catching up as quickly as possible.

Burglary, etc: A man called 911 on Feb. 27 because he was watching his White Circle home getting burglarized. The man said his alarm system had an app that showed live video on his phone, and he was “viewing three males inside his residence,” as he talked to 911.
Police responded, caught two of them inside the house and found the third guy “hiding behind a tree,” the report said.
Detectives are investigating.

Public indecency: An officer was sent to Lowes around 4:30 p.m. March 12 in reference to a disturbance involving a man and a woman.
The woman, a Lowe’s employee, said she had just got back from her lunch break when she saw the man “looking around at items on a shelf.”
The woman said she asked him if he needed help finding anything and he held up something, then said “I have found everything I need,” the report said. “(he) then placed his arms around (the employee) to hug her and then kissed (her) neck. (She) then moved away from (him) and told him to have a nice day and attempted to walk away from (the man). (He) then began to follow (her), stating ‘I would lick you up and down’ and ‘you better hide in an office.’ (She) then spoke with manager and called 911.’”
The man told police he thought he recognized the woman “and stated to me that he had previously had a relationship with her approximately two years ago. (He) was unable to recall (her) name while on scene.”
The woman told police “she has never seen, nor spoken to (the man) before today.”
The woman was given a case number and told what to do. The man was allowed to leave.

Indecent exposure: A Berkshire Terrace man reported he went outside his house around 6:40 a.m. and “observed a man who appeared to be intoxicated, peeing on his truck and trailer.”
The complainant said the man “fully exposed his penis while he was peeing. When (complainant) asked him to stop the man told him to ‘shut the (bleep) up.’ (Complainant) advised the man he would call police. (Complainant) advised his young son was standing outside during the incident. He said the man got into a 1996 black Buick and drove away, almost hitting cars that were parked in the driveway.”
The complainant said he did not want to press charges, “he said he wanted to report the incident because the man did not stop peeing when he asked him too.”
The complainant said he’d seen the man before “come and go” from a nearby apartment. The officer met with the resident of that apartment, who said the man was a cousin and did not pee on the complainant’s trailer.

Identity theft: A man went to HPD on March 21 to report that when he went to get a driver’s history for a commercial driver’s license, he found several citations on the history that weren’t his. “(He) stated he noticed someone was issued four citations in Arkansas and one citation in Jacksonville, Florida,” and during the time the Arkansas tickets were written he was in locked up in Georgia.
“(He) advised that he was not incarcerated when the citation in Jacksonville, Florida was issued but he was not in Florida at the time. (He) was unable to leave the state of Georgia due to being on felony probation.”
It gets worse.
“(He) told me that he attempted to file his income taxes for the first time ever and he was rejected due to owing the IRS money, $20,000. (He) stated he spoke to a representative for the IRS and he was informed that taxes were filed in his name in 2014 and the return was $1,3000. (He) advised he did not file taxes in 2013 and he was still incarcerated at the time.”
The man then told the officer he thinks his brother “got the citations and filed income taxes using his information. (He) believed his brother obtained his Social Security number and other demographics when he was incarcerated.”
The man said he talked to his brother, who said he paid all the tickets. “(His) brother also told him on a different occasion that he knew his date of birth and (SSN). (He) advised he told his brother that it was not OK to use his name due to him getting his life together and attempting to drive commercial vehicles.”
The guy said he didn’t have his brother’s address. He chose to fill out an identity theft packet.

Simple battery, theft by taking: An officer was sent around 2 a.m. March 20 to the Baymont Inn regarding a disturbance. There, a woman said she was being “grabbed and pulled” by a man when she told him to leave her motel room. She said they began arguing when he accused her of stealing $100.
The man claimed he met the woman on a dating website and when they “started having sex she informed him that it would cost $100.” He told her he wasn’t going to pay her, “got dressed and realized the five $20s in his pants pocket were missing. He accused (her) of stealing his money.”
The officer asked the woman if she stole the man’s money and she replied, “No, I work hard for my money.”
Both were given a case number and told how to get a warrant.

Robbery: A woman called HPD March 15 to report she was home when her estranged husband came to her apartment “and asked her to come outside to talk to him,” a report said.
“She stated that she stepped outside thinking that he was going to be civil, though she recently filed for divorce from him. As she stepped outside, he grabbed her necklace off her neck and then ran down the stairwell and out to the parking lot.”
The woman said he stood by his vehicle a minute, then drove off as police arrived. Officers checked the area but had no luck finding the man.

Burglary: Police were sent to a Malibu Drive address on March 13 regarding missing firearms and ransacked rooms. The homeowners were at work and got home to find handguns and rifles missing, as well as video games.
It appeared the home may have been broken into through the attic. Police found footprints and other evidence, and the case is under investigation.

Recovered stolen trailer: A U-Haul employee was inventorying equipment on March 14 when she discovered a trailer that had been reported stolen in Florida on Dec. 26. “She stated someone had backed the trailer into a parking stall along with the other trailers sometime during the night.”

Theft: In February, the maintenance man at Cypress Bend Mobile Home Park reported that “22 air conditioning unit disconnect boxes were stolen from various lots… He stated he began receiving calls from people that their air conditioning units were not working.”
The boxes contain small pieces of copper. He didn’t know who swiped them, but valued the total at about $341.

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