Monday, April 21, 2008
Police are investigating the creation of a fake $100 bill that was reportedly used to pay for a Pita Pit delivery by a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity member on April 11.
A member of the fraternity, who asked to remain anonymous, said the fraternity member who used the bill did not know it was fake. He also said no further legal actions were being taken against the member who used the bill.
Nick Bergin, a Pita Pit delivery man and Lawrence resident, said he did not realize the bill was fake until he returned to Pita Pit, 1011 Massachusetts St.
Bergin said he did not check the bill more closely while he was at the fraternity because it was dark outside and the bill was printed on paper similar to the type real money was printed on. He said the bill looked old, so the man who paid for the delivery may not have been the forger.
“I just assumed it was the real deal,” Bergin said. “Now we definitely are not going to be taking hundreds on deliveries for sure.”
Phillip Peck, an owner and manager of Pita Pit, said a manager had the bill tested with a forgery-detecting marker at the bank. The bill failed the test, prompting Pita Pit to call the police. Pita Pit has not halted deliveries to the fraternity, though.
Sgt. Paul Fellers of the Lawrence Police Department said he could not comment on the case because the investigation was not yet finished. He also said the use of counterfeit money had been reported in Lawrence before, and a case had likely been reported within the last year.
Peck said he did not understand why a talented forger would use a fake bill for delivery food.
“I wouldn’t think if you were that smart, to make a hundred dollar bill, you would use it like that,” Peck said.
According to the U.S. Secret Service’s Web site, those convicted of manufacturing or possessing counterfeit money with fraudulent intent could be fined an undisclosed amount and face time in prison.
Bergin said, in retrospect, he should have been more suspicious of the bill. He said Phi Kappa Psi calls in orders to Pita Pit every day, but on that evening, more orders than usual were delivered to the fraternity.
He said about six orders had already been delivered to the fraternity before he received the fake bill.
Bergin also said that when he tried to call the man who placed the order, the number was not his.
— Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
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