Lower Salford Police Photo by James Short.
The defendant allegedly used $100 bills with the same serial number in all four cases, police allege.
A Philadelphia man has been arrested and charged with forgery, theft and other offenses for his alleged role in a counterfeit money scheme across four Pennsylvania counties, including paying with fake $100 bills at two Harleysville businesses.
Trevone Anthony Jackson, 31, of the 1300 block of Wellington Street, was charged last month by Lower Salford Police with two felony counts of forgery and individual misdemeanor counts of theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and possessing an instrument of crime, for alleged crimes that occurred June 6, according to an affidavit.
On June 6, Lower Salford Police responded to Ace Hardware at 467 Main St. for a report of a counterfeit $100 bill used by a customer to make a purchase, police said. The day prior, police allege Jackson entered the store, approached a checkout with a $28 3M-brand respirator replacement cartridge, and paid with the $100 bill, police said.
Jackson was given $71 change and left the business, according to the affidavit. After the man left, the clerk inspected the bill further and believed it to be counterfeit; a manager described the bill as “feeling wet and it looked smaller than normal United States currency,” per the complaint.
The money was taken to Harleysville Bank, where a teller confirmed it was counterfeit, seized it, and immediately contacted the United States Secret Service, police said.
Later in the day on June 6, Harleysville Bank contacted police to report that a deposit made earlier in the day by Fins, Feathers, Paws and Claws at 436 Main St., contained a counterfeit $100 bill, which was also reported to the Secret Service, according to the affidavit.
Both bills had the same serial number, police said.
Police reviewed surveillance from the hardware store, which allegedly showed Jackson arriving at 2:26 p.m., making a successful purchase two minutes later, and leaving the parking lot toward the direction of the pet store, according to the complaint.
Police distributed the image of Jackson to area police agencies for help in identification, authorities said. On July 10, police received an email from detectives at Caernarvon Township in Berks County, advising that their department was investigating a report of a counterfeit bill being passed on July 9 at a Great Clips in Elverson, PA.
However, this suspect, who was not Jackson, purchased $25 worth of items and used a counterfeit bill with the same serial number used in the two Harleysville incidents, according to investigators.
Then, on Aug. 7, police received a bulletin from Nazareth Borough Police in Northampton County that matched information from the counterfeit investigation in Lower Salford Township.
Investigators in Nazareth said two men, alleged to be Jackson and the suspect in the Berks County incident, entered a Rite Aid on Easton Road and made purchases with $100 bills bearing the same serial number used in the Harleysville incidents.
On Aug. 22, police received information from detectives at Lower Makefield Township in Bucks County who were seeking the identity of two suspects who used counterfeit $100 bills, again bearing the same serial numbers as bills used in the other incidents, on July 17 at Wegmans in Yardley, according to the complaint.
Police said the description of the suspects matched those of the men involved in the incidents in Harleysville and in Berks and Northampton counties.
Lower Makefield Police were able to connect a car used in the case to Jackson, whose license photo matched the suspect in the Ace Hardware case, police said.
On Aug. 25, Nazareth Borough Police were able to positively identify Jackson as one of the suspects from the Rite Aid incident and issued an arrest warrant, police said. Later, on Oct. 28, Lower Salford Police learned Jackson had been arrested on Oct. 26 by Bensalem Township Police for false identification to law enforcement authorities, per the complaint.
Jackson was processed and turned over to the custody of the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office on the Nazareth Borough warrant, police said. According to court records, Jackson was arraigned on Oct 26 and jailed on 10% of $25,000 cash bail in the case, which he posted Oct. 28. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. before Magisterial District Judge John C. Capobianco.
According to court records, Jackson was arraigned and released Nov. 8 on $3,000 unsecured bail in the Lower Salford Township case. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4 at 10 a.m. before Magisterial District Judge Adam T. Katzman.
Court records show Jackson was also arraigned and released Nov. 8 on $5,000 unsecured bail in the Lower Makefield Township arrest, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 10 at 9 a.m. before Bucks County Magisterial District Judge Corryn L. Kronnagel.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
