Spend $2 bills, get arrested

“Guy spends a bunch of $2 bills at Best Buy, cops arrest him because they think they are fake. Duh!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.olesker08mar08,1,76004.column?ctrack=1&cset=true”

“I can't get to the article, but I'm thinkin' those cops should be severely disciplined for gross stupidity, along with whoever called the cops in the first place.
last edited: 4/08/05 8:38:03 AM”

“Here's the site URL where the story came from.
>
http://forums.anandtech.com/message...2&enterthread=y
>
And the amazing story
>
"PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.

For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

"Humiliating," the 57-year old Bolesta was saying now. "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole -- and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

What we have here, besides humiliation, is a sense of caution resulting in screw-ups all around.

"When I bought the stereo player," Bolesta explains, "the technician said it'd fit perfectly into my son's dashboard. But it didn't. So they called back and said they had another model that would fit perfectly, and it was cheaper. We got a $67 refund, which was fine. As long as it fit, that's all.

"So we go back and pay for it, and they tell us to go around front with our receipt and pick up the difference in the cost. I ask about installation charges. They said, 'No installation charge, because of the mix-up. Our mistake, no charge.' Swell.

"But then, the next day, I get a call at home. They're telling me, 'If you don't come in and pay the installation fee, we're calling the police.' Jeez, where did we go from them admitting a mistake to suddenly calling the police? So I say, 'Fine, I'll be in tomorrow.' But, overnight, I'm starting to steam a little. It's not the money -- it's the threat. So I thought, I'll count out a few $2 bills."

He has lots and lots of them.

With his Capital City Student Tours, he arranges class trips for school kids around the country traveling to large East Coast cities, including Baltimore. He's been doing this for the last 18 years. He makes all the arrangements: hotels, meals, entertainment. And it's part of his schtick that, when Bolesta hands out meal money to students, he does it in $2 bills, which he picks up from his regular bank, Sun Trust.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

At Best Buy, they may have perceived the protest -- but did not sense the comic aspect of 57 $2 bills.

"I'm just here to pay the bill," Bolesta says he told a cashier. "She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money. Like she's doing me a favor."

He remembers the cashier marking each bill with a pen. Then other store personnel began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

"I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank,'" Bolesta says. "I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was then taken to the county police lockup in Cockeysville, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called in.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

The other day, one of Bolesta's sons needed a few bucks. Bolesta pulled out his wallet and "whipped out a couple of $2 bills. But my son turned away. He said he doesn't want 'em any more."

He's seen where such money can lead."”

“haha! i can totally see how that ties in with 9/11 too...good excuse!”

“False arrest, I love the smell of money in the morning.

A nice out of court settlement from both Best Buy, and the town who supplied the Police. Probably enough to buy several radio/CD players.”

“Don't forget pain anguish and mental distress.”

“The real question is, will the town and Best Buy pay in $2 bills?”

“LZ, because of the burgeoning deficit, and the general weakness of the dollar overseas, I think Best Buy and the Town will pay in $3 bills.”

“Actually, the fact that he had 57 bills in sequential order should have tipped them that the money was real. Counterfeiters rarely go to the trouble of printing sequential numbers, or more than a few different serial numbers anyway.

Also, any counterfeiter that would go to the trouble of printing sequential numbers wouldn't waste his time printing $2 bills. Geez.”

“I will bet with all this embarrassment you could get Best Buy to accept monopoly money this morning with no comment.”

“well, it was in Baltimore...”

“Our local El station parking lot went from $1.50 per day to $2 perday for parking. There is a huge box with slots for each numbered parking space. You put your payment in the slot number matching your parking space number. There are two slots for each space. Slot one is for coins and takes all coins up to quarters. I t will not take silver dollars or half dollars. The second slot is a small round slot to use if you pay with bills. But to use it you have to fold the bill in half and then roll it tightly so it will go through the slot. This is a pain in the ass, but faster than coins.

Sooooo . . . .

I went to the bank and got 100 $2 bills. So I only have to roll and stuff one a day. Well so far in three wekks I have gotten two tickets because the police officer assigned to collect the money from the box is too dim to look at a bill. He actually wrote on the ticket "Oaid oarking with 1 bill and no coins. I stopped by the police station that night and showed them the pack of $2 bills with the bank wrapper still arond them and they cancleled the ticket. They are making me go to court for the second ticket they refused to cancel the ticket. I am taking the court date and I will beat them silly before the judge.”

“The guy should be locked up___in the looney ward. He is just looking for trouble by doing something unusual and out of the ordinary.”

“I like to see people's expressions when you pay in Susan B. Anthony silver dollars!”

“This probably the biggest reason why we'll never get rid of $1 bills and move to a $1 coin, exclusively. People are just too stupid resistant to change.”

“"They are making me go to court for the second ticket they refused to cancel the ticket. I am taking the court date and I will beat them silly before the judge.”

This deserves coverage on Court TV...lol...beat'em down!”

“You go, AJ. Show 'em how stupid they are.”

“I really like those Canadian Loonies, though (toonies, too!)”

“This just goes to show you just how stupid the cops really are. Considering the state of the American public education system and the minimum wage aspects of the job at BB one could almost expect it happen at a checkout line. But the cops should have known right away that a mistake had been made. IMO (based on personal experience) all cops are idiots, bar none.
last edited: 4/08/05 9:57:17 AM”

“I recently had an older, small-picture $20 questioned at a food place, I think saladworks.

It hadn't occured to me until then that the small-head notes went out almost 10 years ago, and that the high-school-age staff may have no idea what money used to look like.”

“This strikes me as a great way to handle the kids allowance, tell him you'll pay the allowance in two's. If he refuses . . .

:-)

AJ, tell us the results of the court date.

BTW, I once had my day in court regarding a running a red light ticket, and won.

I actually have to credit, the cop who gave me the ticket. It was his honest testimony in the court room that allowed me win. As you might expect, the judge believes the cop in these petty cases. So it helps to have an honest cop.”

“Too bad they didn't taser the guy after they shackled him. He was just asking for a severe beat-down.”

“taser him, haha!

making fun of cops just isn't as fun w/out StickmanWalking around... :-(”

“Maybe they preferred that he pay in $1 bills???”

“Best Buy sucks anyway.
There crap is overpriced and the salespeople are idiots.”

“Hmmm... I think it depends on what you're shopping for, Best buy usually has the best price for DVD's and CD's, Even better than Costco which I don't understand. And Best Buy usually has the best price on a lot of other things because they offer a lot of rebates.”

“You haven't been in the Mobile store, have you?”

“I think we need email addresses and phone numbers for the Best Buy store in question and the town hall/police department. Then spread the story over the internet far and wide encouraging people to call the store asking if they accept $2 bills and call the police telling them that you think you saw a suspicious looking guy hanging around the town water supply with a wad of $2 bills in his back pocket.”

“Oooo, you terrorist, you!”

“For the irony-challenged: The previous post by bitpusher was ironic. I was not, in fact, actually accusing hyway of being a terrorist.


Thank you.”

“oh crap.......!!!!! The cops are pounding down my office door and black helicopters are already landing on my roof....


Bit, you bastarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...............”

“LMAO@bit, ... yeah, the sarcasm font has not been working too well lately.”

“Yo Momma!”

“Baltimore County police, Cockeysville precint: 410-887-1820
Best Buy, Lutherville, MD: 410-561-2260

Go for it!
last edited: 4/08/05 12:14:30 PM”

“The end result of our education system.

"Is our children learning?"”

“So the 57 year old gets shackled for 3 hours over $114 but the 12 year old gets a five day suspension?



12-year-old nabbed for printing $1 bills

Alerted to a counterfeiting ring, police rushed to the scene and collared the prime suspect.

A 12-year-old boy from West Seattle.

The Madison Middle School student used a relative's computer to create 20 realistic-looking $1 bills earlier this week and passed a dozen of them out to classmates, according to Seattle Public Schools spokesman Peter Daniels.

One of the boy's friends used a phony dollar to make a purchase in the school cafeteria Monday, but the con wasn't discovered until cashiers made their tallies at the end of the day, Daniels said.

Cafeteria workers, on the alert the following day, caught an 11-year- old student trying to buy beef jerky with the fake money, Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Deb Brown said.

The assistant principal called police, who questioned the boys involved in the counterfeiting. Investigators were able to track down and confiscate eight of the bogus dollars, Brown said.

The counterfeiter, the 11-year-old and another boy involved in the scheme were given five-day suspensions, which began Tuesday and will continue after next week's spring break.

While some might find the incident amusing, Daniels said it's important for students to realize it's a serious crime -- a felony.

The Secret Service has declined to investigate, Brown said, possibly because the counterfeited bills were such a small denomination and there were so few produced. But a Seattle police detective will continue to work on the case and will forward his findings to King County prosecutors, who will decide whether to file criminal charges against the two students, she said.”

“Violin, can't believe you didn't jump on this.



There crap is overpriced and the salespeople are idiots.”
StoveStomper
10:44:21 AM
4/08/05


Stovestomper calling people names...LOL”

“Ewker, was I talking about a TTer?
No.
Get a life.
LOL”

“I wasn't the least surprised Ewker. That's SS for you: thin-skinned and thick-skulled.”

“Violin seems a might touchy on this subject. Wondering Vee ole bud ..... do you work for Worse Buy or G_d forbid are you one of Baltimore's "finest"?”

“Brooklyn was crazy yesterday & the road ragers were out in force. Truckloads of dirt dropped on bridges. Our EZ-pass died & had to be scanned. Accidents everywhere. People yelling & spitting on each other's car.First shakers. Gestures. Very entertaining. Then the Yankee game lets out. Took us 4-1/2hrs to get out. Day before, I had to kick the control box a few times to get the roof lights working. Today NYC again. Think I'll bring my camera.”

“My court date on the parking ticket is May 11. Stay tuned.”

“make sure you take plenty of $2 bills just in case you lose and you have to pay a fine.”

“Take some Susan B.'s and some Sacagawea dollars too.”

“since you mentioned it, I think I will pick up some dollar coins and hald dollars also. I can pay in some wierd combination of Dollare coins, half dollar coins and $2 bills”

“Of course, the only people you will inconvenience is the lowest people on the Totem pole, the cashier. Poor girl probably doesn't even know the first thing about your case or anyone elses.”

“And she might call the cops, thinking they were fake! LOL”