Crime & Safety

Three Arrested on Counterfeit Currency, Forgery Charges

Fort Lee Police say they had to chase down one man on foot after he tried to pay for bagels with a fake $100 bill

Fort Lee police arrested two men and one 14-year-old girl Monday on counterfeit currency and forgery charges after one member of the trio allegedly attempted to pay with a fake $100 bill at a local bagel shop.

Wilking Casado, 19, of Paterson, was charged with forgery, obstruction, resisting arrest, criminal simulation and theft by deception, after police responding to the 1 p.m. incident Monday at on Lemoine Ave. had to chase him down on foot. Fort Lee Police Sgt. Greg Boylan and Officer Nicholas Mircovich caught up with and arrested Casado - who fled when police arrived at the scene - after a brief foot chase, police said.

A subsequent sweep of the chase area revealed that Casado had dropped two additional counterfeit $100 bills, according to police.

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A civilian witness told police he saw Casado with another man, subsequently identified by police as Miguel Rodriguez, 32, of Perth Amboy, and the teenage girl in a grey BMW. The two were taken to Fort Lee police headquarters for further investigation, implicated and arrested on multiple charges, according to police.

A search of the car turned up another 27 fake $100 notes hidden under the gear shaft. Police say the counterfeit bills were “coated with substances to make them undetectable to vendors.”

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Rodriguez allegedly showed police fraudulent credit cards in another name as identification and was charged with forgery, criminal simulation, theft by deception, credit card theft, identity theft and hindering, police said.

Bail was set at $50,000 for Rodriguez and $25,000 for Casado. The teenage girl was charged with various fraud-related charges and released to a parent, according to the Fort Lee Police Department.


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