CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A tip from the Victoria County Sheriff's Office ended in Nueces County District Attorney's Criminal Interdiction Unit agents holding three people at gunpoint Tuesday afternoon, suspects in a multi-state crime spree.
The suspects were believed to be in town to pick up a load of drugs to take back to North Carolina. Instead, agents said, the group had been passing fake $100 bills to businesses around the country.
DA's CIU Supervisor Mike Tamez said he still can't believe how this case quickly changed.
"We know the money was printed and given to one of the folks in the car in North Carolina," he said. "They initially had a stack of $100 bills, so they travel from North Carolina all the way to South Texas and along the road they were doing the same exact thing in different businesses in different cities.”
Tamez said at least nine businesses were hit, including some of the shops at La Palmera mall. The alleged counterfeiters hit the Ulta store when they bought something with their fake $100 bill. They did the same thing at the Crocs store, but at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory their luck ran out. The store simply didn’t have change for a hundred dollar bill as one of the men tried to buy a chocolate covered apple with his phony money.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store manager Sandy Juarez said this kind of crime impacts everyone.
"It makes it harder for everyone else cause that’s where the prices go up and people are complaining but that’s the reason why," she said.
Across Moore Plaza from SPID, one of the suspects entered Pet Supplies Plus and bought a $24 bag of dog food. The $100 bill was checked out and appeared legitimate, resulting in the suspect leaving with $76 in change. The store incurred a loss both in terms of money and product.
"I think they should be charged and they should go to prison. For the rest of us basically as hard workers who have to come to work 8 to 10 hours a day and then etch out a living it’s not right," said Pet Supplies Plus Manager Michael Walker.
Investigators with the DA's CIU are hoping other business owners to carefully examine the photos of the suspects. That’s because they believe there are more victims were impacted. The suspects are currently in the Nueces County Jail on a number of state charges, including organized criminal activity.
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