CHICAGO — Forgery charges have been filed against a Chicago man who allegedly passed fake $100 bills at a Logan Square grocery store, including one with the word “COPY” printed on it.
Antoine Lee was arrested last weekend after scuffling and biting a store manager who confronted him about the fake bills at Rico Fresh Market, 3552 West Armitage, Assistant State’s Attorney Alexander Konetzki said during Lee’s bail hearing.
He said Lee gathered a few items and paid for them with a bogus $100 bill, receiving $72 in real money as change. Lee proceeded to the store’s restaurant area, where he presented another fake C-note and received $65 in change, according to Konetzki.
Both cashiers thought the bills were fake, and the manager stopped Lee as he headed out the door around noon on Sunday, May 21.
Konetzki said a “scuffle” ensued. Lee bit the manager’s arm, breaking the skin, but he failed to escape before the police arrived.
Chicago police determined the bills were fake, partly because they both had the same serial number and one bore the word “COPY.”
He’s charged with forgery and aggravated battery of a merchant.
Lee has six felony convictions, all for narcotics-related charges, Konetzki said. He also has outstanding felony warrants in Kane and Boone counties for aggravated battery by strangulation and credit card fraud, respectively.
Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered him to pay a $15,000 bail deposit to be released on the warrants and another $500 for the new case.
His defense attorney said he is raising seven children and works for a security company.
Believe it or not, people have passed fake hundreds bearing the word “COPY” all over the country.
In February, two phony $100 bills bearing identical serial numbers and the word “COPY” were passed in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. That’s about an hour east of Minneapolis. Similar bills were found circulating late last year near the Canadian border in Norwood, New York.
Someone passed movie prop money, marked “COPY” and “For Motion Picture Use Only” near Cleveland in 2018. A version of the same bills popped up in Vermont.