Crime & Safety
Second Counterfeit Bill Crime Reported After one in Palmer
Another counterfeit bill case reported in Lehigh Valley this past week.
In the second area case this week involving counterfeit $20 bills, a 20-year-old man is accused of passing two of them at a Bethlehem bar early Friday and of having another 28 counterfeit $20s in his possession.
He also had what court records say is a false ID listing him as 25. He actually has about eight months before he can legally drink in Pennsylvania.
In the earlier counterfeit case, a Lehigh Township woman was charged Tuesday with using two counterfeit $20s to help pay for merchandise at a Palmer Park Mall store.
Tonya R. Green, 44, also was found with 68 additional $20 bills that police needed to test to see if they were real or counterfeit.
In this recent case, the records say Luilly A. Rollins-Wilson of the city’s SouthSide used counterfeit $20s to buy about $30 in beer while at Roosevelts 21st, 21 E. Elizabeth Ave.
His false ID lists him as a man by the last name of Lantigua, age 25. The records say Rollins-Wilson was born Sept. 30, 1992.
Meanwhile, a criminal complaint filed by city Officer Brian Quinn also provides some background information on how to detect counterfeit $20s.
According to the complaint:
Another city officer had Rollins-Wilson in custody when Quinn arrived around 1:20am. The other officer said the suspect bought about $30 in beer with counterfeit bills.
When asked about the false ID, Rollins-Wilson told police he found it “on the ground.”
Police found 28 additional counterfeit $20 bills ($560) on the suspect as well as one real $20 bill. Rollins-Wilson told police he got the bills from a friend to whom he sold a laptop computer.
The bills were determined to be counterfeit with the use of a counterfeit bill marker. Quinn examined the bills and observed the lack of a watermark – a faint image of President Andrew Jackson on the bill’s far right similar to the main center portrait of Jackson – as well as the absence of security strips.
Also, Quinn wrote that there were only three serial numbers for the 28 bills. Eight had one serial number, 11 had another and nine had yet another.
Real currency, he said, would have a series of different serial numbers on each bill.
The 11 bills with one serial number also had a copy of what appeared to be a handwritten number 24 appearing exactly the same on all 11 bills, Quinn said.
Rollins-Wilson, of 612 E. Morton St., Apt. 2, was charged with forgery, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, receiving stolen property, purchase, consumption, possession or transportation of liquor or malt or brewed beverages, and carrying a false identification card.
He was arraigned at 5:15am Friday by on-duty District Judge Todd Strohe of Bangor and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $3,000 bail