Counterfeit bills discovered by alert cashier

The local St. Augustine news desk at Historic City News has learned that last Friday night, Police Officer William Moltimore responded to Mikato Japanese Steakhouse to investigate the passing of suspected counterfeit money.

24 year-old David Hinkley ran up a $140.00 guest check in the restaurant; which is located in the Winn Dixie shopping center on South Ponce de Leon Boulevard at SR-207.

According to the report, when Hinkley handed the cashier three $50.00 bills, she said that they didn’t feel quite right. The cashier used a counterfeit detection pen to verify her suspicions and she told police the pen mark indicated that the bills were fake.

Moltimore contacted Hinkley at the scene and discovered that he had twelve counterfeit bills on him.

All of the bills had the same serial number. Hinkley stated he had received the bills from someone who purchased items from him that were advertised on Craigslist.

Community Affairs Officer Barbara Clifford of the St. Augustine Police Department reports that the bills were taken into evidence and Hinkley was taken into custody — charged with uttering a counterfeit bill, possession of counterfeit bills, and defrauding an Innkeeper.