The quiet, peaceful city of Albany, Oregon, had an unexpected white collar crime problem recently. A 31-year-old local man was arrested for passing counterfeit $20 bills at two Albany establishments, Cooper’s Deli and Abby’s Legendary Pizza.
When caught Saturday night, the man was in possession of an additional 43 forged bills. In addition multiples counts of first-degree forgery and possession of a forged instrument, he was also charged with multiple accounts of third-degree theft, plus giving false information to a police officer and possession of methamphetamine.
His next court date is set for July 29 at 8:30 a.m., and his bail is $15,000. An alleged accomplice, a 32-year-old woman, was cited for conspiracy relative to the forgery case. The woman’s involvement in the case is said to include driving a getaway car.
Police were tipped off about the counterfeiters by the staff of Abby’s Legendary Pizza last Friday. The staff members communicated that a man had asked for eight $5 bills in exchange for two forged $20 bills. Later that same evening, another report came in from Cooper’s Deli about the same thing. Although the suspect and his accomplice got away at that time, a clerk was able to get their license plate number.
With that information, police went to the home address of the car’s owner. Shortly after that, the suspects drove up and were apprehended. Upon investigation, it turned out that the primary suspect had outstanding bench warrants for first-degree forgery cases.
Police expressed that forgery is rare in Albany. In a statement, an officer said that when counterfeit cases do occur, forged bills will be mixed with real ones at places like gas stations.
If you ever have white collar crime legal troubles, getting an attorney with experience in white collar crime cases will be very important. That attorney will help you handle the situation with pertinent legal advice and professional representation.
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald, “Forgery suspect arrested” Kyle Odegard, Jul. 15, 2013
