Two New York City residents are facing counterfeiting charges after police found them on Saturday in a vehicle in the Walmart parking with $1,000 worth of ill-gotten merchandise and $6,000 in counterfeit $100 bills, police said.
Chicopee police spokesman Mike Wilk said the man, identified as Shawn Johnson, is charged with possession of counterfeit notes, uttering, or passing, counterfeit notes and larceny of more than $250 by a single scheme.
A juvenile who was with Johnson was arrested on the same charges. Her name was not disclosed due to her age, but she is also from the Bronx.
Wilk said officers Yamil Montanez and Dave River went to the Walmart on Memorial Drive Saturday as a follow up on a past larceny involving fake money. While there, store security pointed them toward two suspects who were in the parking lot.
The two officers and detective Brian LePage stopped Johnson and the juvenile in the parking lot. They were identified as having made roughly $1,000 in purchases with counterfeit money in Walmart and the nearby Home Depot, Wilk said.
When officers searched their vehicle, they found $6,000 in fake bills, he said
Chicopee police are now working with the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates counterfeiting cases for the Department of Treasury.
Johnson was held at the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow over the weekend. He was expected to be arraigned Monday in Chicopee District Court.