Bethalto, East Alton Police seek assistance in counterfeit money case

BETHALTO - Bethalto Police posted the photo above and below to Facebook asking help identifying a suspect, or suspects.

"He is suspected of passing bogus money to local businesses," the Bethalto Police Department said in a brief release.

According to subsequent posts on its Facebook page, the Bethalto Police Department said the bills being passed cannot be spotted using normal counter counterfeit measures because the bills are bleached $5 bills that have been re-marked with higher denominations.

To avoid that, the Bethalto Police advise area workers taking bills to revisit the Bureau Engraving and Printing's tutorials on how to spot counterfeit currency.

The East Alton Police Department believes the photos shown are of two different individuals due to the differences in hairline as well as waistlines. Major Christian Cranmer of the East Alton Police Department said his department's suspect is the chubbier white male who is accused of passing counterfeit notes at a Subway sandwich shop.

Bethalto Deputy Chief Craig Welch agrees the two photos could show different guys, blaming the quality of the videos for the issue. The two photos each show a man in similar dress, so Welch said he is open to them showing different men, but was awaiting better quality video for any sort of confirmation.

In Bethalto, he said the Subway was also targeted.

The United States Secret Service has an agent assigned to local banks and police departments to track down the person or persons attempting to pass these notes.

The tellers at First National Bank in Bethalto were able to prove these bills as fake. They were discovered Monday, but passed over the weekend.

Anyone with any information about the person should contact Bethalto Police at (618) 377-5261 or East Alton Police at (618) 259-6212.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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