Counterfeit Money Passed

Police are investigating reports of several counterfeit bills passed recently at Kootenai County businesses.

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department received three reports over the weekend of phony bills being used at a convenience store and a department store. Post Falls police fielded reports of a fake $50 and $100 bill being passed during separate incidents at a grocery store last week.

In the most recent incident, a teenager used a fake $50 bill Sunday morning to buy $5 worth of merchandise from Skopko on Ironwood Drive, according to a police report.

Counterfeit bills were presented as payment twice last week to clerks at Goodies Qwik Stop on Appleway Avenue.

Two teenagers tried to use a phony $20 bill to pay for $3 worth of merchandise on Friday afternoon, but were unsuccessful when a clerk recognized it was not real. Last Wednesday, a clerk accepted a fake $50 bill from a 21-year-old man who bought $9 worth of cigarettes.

Cashiers at Tidyman’s grocery store in Post Falls accepted a phony $100 and $50 bill as payments last week on small purchases. A man in his mid-40s passed the fake $100 bill, and a woman in her mid-30s presented the $50 bill. , DataTimes