The San Luis Obispo Police Department is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying a woman suspected of using counterfeit money to make purchases downtown over the summer.
Officials say the purchases were made on June 30 and August 4.
The department's public affairs manager, Christine Wallace, says using counterfeit money isn't very common in the city.
She says the police department usually only finds out once a store owner or restaurant owner finds the fake bills in their cash registers.
Local employees downtown were surprised to hear about the counterfeit investigation.
“Hearing about it, you're kind of like, ‘Wait what? In like my hometown — that's happening? That's crazy,’" said Jenny Gosnell, Black Water employee. "We do have the marker and so now that we when we get large bills in, we have to check, make sure that it's OK."
“It definitely worries me a little bit because you want to make sure that all the tender that we get here is legit so that we can pay our bills and stuff like that,” said Jordyn Castillo, the Sports Forum store manager. “It does now let me know that I need to be a little bit more vigilant.”
The San Luis Obispo Police Department told KSBY News because it's not reported very often, it's hard to know if it's happening less or the counterfeit bills are just getting harder to spot.
They recommend businesses use the technology available to detect counterfeit but employees say that technology isn't always available.
“It's kind of hard to because we don't really have any of the hardware to scan any bills,” said Dominic Roide, a Roxanne's Birkenstock salesman. “We just kind of eyeball it, which can be tough, and, you know, we try to trust people. At the end of the day, that's kind of where we're at.”
“Anything that's bigger than like $50 or whatever, we like to hold it up to the light, make sure it's got that hidden little face in the corner,” said Castillo.” I know the $100 bill with that blue stripe is very helpful just to let you know that it is legit.”
Gosnell says she's never encountered a counterfeit bill in her store.
“So far it's never turned up like fake for me and so it's kind of like, ‘What do you do when it goes dark?’ ‘What are you supposed to say?” said Gosnell. “But I kind of like in my head ... maybe don't blame the person right away and just be like, ‘Hey, this is counterfeit. Did you know that?'”
The San Luis Obispo Police Department says if anyone has any information about the suspect’s identity, contact Community Service Officer Corsaw at (805) 781-7335 and reference case #240805064.
