CD: Counterfeit money returns to Starkville

JULY 17, 2009

JORDAN NOVET

STARKVILLE — It made its grand appearance last Friday night.

As Lt. Bill Lott of the Starkville Police Department tells the story, “somebody was eating outside one of the restaurants (in the Cotton District) and was approached by two black males who sat down and started talking with the victim” between 10 and 10:20 p.m. on Friday, July 10.

Lott identified the restaurant as Shaherazad’s.

Then, Lott, said, “One of the guys asked the guy, the victim, if he could make him change” for a $100 bill. “And apparently he did, and after a little while, he realized the bill was fake. And he approached them somewhere on University Drive, in that area of the restaurants, and told them it was fake and he wanted to meet somewhere … later and settle up. And of course the guy didn’t.”

The passing of counterfeit bills is not a first for Starkville. The most recent case took place in the city in December, and in 2002, Nick Turner, then a first-year running back for the Mississippi State University football team, was caught using counterfeit $100 bills.

However, last week’s incident does stand out: “Usually it’s businesses, not individuals who’ve been approached,” Lott said.

Read complete article at Commercial Dispatch.