Woman arrested for trying to pass fake $1 million bill

[peterh]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/custom/fringe/sfl-39milliondollar,0,6844989.story?coll=sfla-news-fringe

COVINGTON, Ga. -- A Georgia woman who tried to use a fake $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at Wal-Mart was arrested, and police later found two more of the bills in her purse.

The U.S. Treasury does not make $1 million bills. Phony currency is sold in some souvenir shops, however. The fake bill featured a picture of the Statue of Liberty, police said.

``It looks real, but of course there's nothing real about this,'' said Stacey Cotton, police chief in Covington, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. ``People do crazy things all the time.''






OK….I know this may not be true LBN stuff….but I’m a sucker for Dawin-type material…

[BR_Parkway]

1. She's innocent - this is a Wal Mart in GA afterall - the police should

lower their expectations. God created her this way (well, this is GA, she can't have evolved this way, they don't allow that librul stuff there)

[PartyPooper]

2. LOL! Did she think she could get change from a $1million dollar bill?

:silly:

[buddy22600]

3. she tried to make change

After the bill was declined, she went ahead and tried to pay for everything with two gift cards worth about $3, when that was declined she asked if the cashier could make change, then the cops we called

[NickB79]

6. Never know

The Walmart would only need $998,325 in change. Of course, you'd have to get $100,000 of that in $1's, and buy a wheelbarrow to haul out about 80 lbs of pennies. :silly:

[joeunderdog]

9. The teller said, "Welcome to Walmart Mrs. Walton."

[Rex]

4. She expected change back?

How could she make such a kewl looking bill, and yet be so stupid?

[SeattleDem]

5. Yes, she expected a $998,325 dollar bill back! n/t

eom

[skypilot]

7. If I had a one million dollar bill...

...and I was dumb enough to actually think it was legal tender, I wouldn't compound my dumbness by trying to spend the damned thing in a Walmart.

[MaineDem]

18. I know. That's the funniest part about the whole story!

A million bucks at WalMart! :eyes:

[KansDem]

8. A million here, a million there, and soon you're talking about real $$$

except in this case.

[Fargin Ice Hole]

10. If the dollar goes the way of the peso. These might not be so uncommon

After WWI germans had to roll in shopping carts filled with money just to purchse a loaf of bread.

Sad fact of all this is that the lady will probably get charged with some ridiculous crime, even though it's clear she was either joking or mentally enballanced.

[ze_dscherman]

24. German inflation money

This is a bill issued by the city of Husum, upgraded from 500.000 Marks to 50 Billion. Printers all over Germany were not able to produce enough bills anymore, so bills were even printed on silk, linen or wood. On the hight of inflation, one US$ was worth ONE TRILLION Reichsmark.

Nice collection to be seen here: http://www.das-deutsche-notgeld.de

[mike1963]

11. Groan. I have six of these (bought 10 on ebay for a quarter apiece)...

Sometimes I give one to a clerk just to see what they say. Nobody has yet failed to see it's a joke.

:eyes:
:eyes:

[R Hickey]

12. Is she related to the woman who claimed she was trampled in a sale?

She was a multi-millionare when she walked into the store.

[fob]

13. The U.S. Treasury does not make $1 million bills

How can you be arrested then? I understand if you counterfeit a $20 or $50, but if the US Treasury doesn't make it, how can it be counterfeit?

And if she attempted to purchase real goods and the cashier is bright enough to recgonize it as not REAL, what, exactly, was she arrested for? She was charged with forgery, but does that mean when my 3 YO draws a picture and says it's a gazillion dollar bill and I present it for purchase, he FORGED a gazillion dollar bill?

I have a bush* 9-11 dollar bill, is it a forgery? Where is the real bush* 9-11 dollar bill that the US Treasury doesn't make that it was "forged" from?

[demdave]

15. If you try to pass it as real currency.

I believe that is the threshold. Much like using a washer in a coin vending machine.

As an aside, I have had to call a SECOND manager at MacDonald's before I found one that didn't think a 2 dollar bill was fake. "There ain't no such thing as a 2 dollar bill."

[mike1963]

16. ROFL...my friend runs a feed store in the 1-horse town up the road gets

all the $2 bills the local bank can scare up. He loves 'em. And he's run into people who think they're funny-money too. I think I'll snag a few and see for meself (sic)
;-)

[fob]

17. Okay, so if you TRY and pass it or do you have to PASS it?

I see it along the lines of shoplifting, we've all seen the videos of people stuffing whatnot down their trousers but they can't be arrested until they LEAVE the store. Up until that point they can say they forgot to get a cart or something, but anyway the merchandise is still in the store and is still the property of the store.

So if I give a cashier a $200 dollar bill for my purchases, and they say get the hell outta here, this isn't real, then I gotta give them some legal tender or else I'm not getting the stuff. So what does it matter if I ATTEMPT to give them a real FAKE bill if they don't give me the goods, what's the problem?

Conversely, what if the cashier accepts the bill (like the story cited elsewhere), is the cashier arrested for accepting fake counterfeit currency?

Hopefully this isn't coming off as me sounding like a dickhead, the whole thing just seems ridiculous. I mean isn't that cashier that takes the $200 bill just taking part in bartering? What if I offered him/her a gift certificate to buger king? If she/he takes it should we both be arrested?

[rocktivity]

19. Originally posted by FoeOfBush

...if the cashier accepts the bill (like the story cited elsewhere), is the cashier arrested for accepting fake counterfeit currency?

Hopefully, the cashier got fired. But when I wrote that the cashier should have been arrested, the charge I had in mind was more along the lines of felonius stupidity!

:headbang:
rocknation

[demdave]

25. I hope you are not trying to be serious.

There is no crime for accepting fake currency. Why would there be? You, as an agent of the store, are the victim in this crime. Should you be charged for being the victim in a mugging because you TOOK the beating??

The crime is to pass a fake currency. Then you were caught. The currency has been PASSED. You do not have to get away with a crime to have committed the crime. P.S. whatever TV show you have seen that gave you a criminal science degree for you to base your knowledge on shoplifting from should refund your imaginary tuition. You put "whatnot" down your trousers and you are busted.

As for the ridiculous barter scenario, the cashier would have to be authorized by the store to accept fake $200 bills, Whopper coupons or a handful of Rice Crispies in exchange for the STORE'S products. Otherwise, they a simply assisting in an act of theft and would be liable under the law.

[Thor_MN]

21. That's why she was not charged with counterfeiting, but forgery.

You can't counterfeit a non-existent bill, so you get charged with forgery and/or theft. In this case, since she probably didn't make the bill, they might just go with attempted theft.

I wonder if she could pull off something along the lines of "Some guy gave it to me for >whatever<.. Why, is there something wrong with it? I thought he looked shifty...."

[rocktivity]

14. A $200 bill was successfully passed not long ago

A guy bought $150 in groceries and got $50 in change. And did I mention that the Pretzel-Dunce's face was on it? He got away, but maybe they should have arrested the cashier!

:headbang:
rocknation

[baldguy]

20. How much ya wanna bet . . .

She's voting for George?

[happyslug]

22. Now the US use to have a $100,000 dollar bill

It had President's Wilson's picture on it but was used only for fund
transfers between US Federal Reserve banks and NEVER issued to the public.

As to other US Notes, From the Bureau of Engraving and Printing:

“Currency notes of denominations above $100 are not available from the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve System, or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. On July 14, 1969, the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System announced that currency notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 would be discontinued immediately due to lack of use. Although they were issued until 1969, they were last printed in 1945.”


For list of $500, $1000, $5000 and $10,000 notes see:
http://www.moneyfactory.com/section.cfm/5/61

For the other extreme: Fractional Currency, 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 Cent notes:
http://www.moneyfactory.com/section.cfm/5/60

For the $100,000 bill see:
http://www.moneyfactory.com/document.cfm/5/42/1359

[spinbaby]

23. Hah, she's got a mullet!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040310/480/wxs12203100226&e=3



Just another detail that adds to the perfection of this story.

[Roaming]

26. Makes you wonder about some people...

Are people REALLY that stupid? The police must have been laughing themselves to death over this one.

[amazona]

27. she's probably got an illness

A friend's wife started doing peculiar stuff like this. Turned out she had a form of M.S. that attacked her brain first. She went crazy and was dead in a couple of years. It was scary.

It is also possible for someone who's bipolar to become so delusional that they think something like this will work.

If anyone really thought that the WalMart could make change for one million dollars, they'd be hit by armed robbers on a daily basis.