Crime & Safety

Man Trying to Spend Fake $20 Bills Busted: Cops

The suspect told Joliet police someone swindled him with the counterfeit cash, and he was trying to recover his losses by spending the phony money in a store.

A Joliet man who tried to buy an xBox game card at Walmart using counterfeit $20 bills Wednesday night was arrested for forgery, Joliet police Cmdr. Rich Demick said.

Joseph Lewis Molette told police he had received the phony cash in a swindle and was attempting to recover his losses by spending it at the 2424 W. Jefferson St. store.

The Walmart clerk, however, recognized the money as being counterfeit and notified store security, who held Molette until police took him into custody, Demick said.

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Molette, 22, of 413 State St., told officers after his arrest that he'd been given the counterfeit cash by a man he met in the parking lot of the Grapevine Bar & Grill, 2314 Plainfield Road, Crest Hill, Demick said. Molette agreed to give the man eight $10 bills in exchange for four $20 bills, only to learn later from a bartender that he had been duped, Demick said.

Molette is being held in the Will County jail in lieu of $35,000 bond. According to jail records, which are incomplete, he's been arrested several times since 2011 on charges that include driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of 30 to 500 grams of cannabis and reckless driving.

Find out what's happening in Jolietwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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