Thousands in bogus bills seized in North-Central Iowa

Police in Lake Mills say they seized 74-hundred dollars in phoney currency and arrested a North-Central Iowa man recently after the state Division of Criminal Investigation and federal Secret Service joined them in an investigation of alleged counterfeiting. Lake Mills Police Chief Dave Thomas says his investigation began after he got word from authorities in Blue Earth, Minnesota. Chief Thomas says it was November first when a bank called police to say they’d taken a bogus 20-dollar bill, and authorities in Blue Earth County told them a Mankato man had been picked up passing the fake money. The Iowa officers picked up a man distributing money here and he told them who was making it. Chief Thomas says more “funny money” is still floating around. As far as they know there’s still about $2,500 still out there, and they don’t know how many people may know it’s counterfeit or may be passing it around without suspecting. The case may end up with one or two charges against the culprits they know about, or there may be many more. Chief Thomas says the public could help wrap up this counterfeiting case. If anybody finds they’ve got a counterfeit bill or suspects it’s a “bad bill” call local police, because they have serial numbers and other ways to identify the bogus bills, and still think there’s 10-thousand in all to be recovered.