A Milford man was arrested Monday on felony charges of counterfeiting.
Fred Hoyle III, 19, Main Street, Milford, was arrested following a police investigation into counterfeit $20 bills used at a Warsaw gas station and at Warsaw Community High School. Hoyle was also charged with misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia.
The fake bills came to officers’ attention when a Lake City Bank employee reported May 30 receiving a deposit from a Marathon gas station location that contained a counterfeit $20. Two more counterfeit bills were brought in by the station’s manager, according a probable cause affidavit filed by the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office.
The station’s night clerk told police a younger Asian or Hispanic man had attempted to pay with two counterfeit $20s, and that the man seemed surprised when told the bills were fake. The clerk kept the bills and had the man write down his name, address and phone number.
More fake $20 bills with the same serial number as the bills used at the gas station were found to have been used to purchase items at Warsaw Community High School. Police found another 21 bills in the possession of the man who used them at the school, Khyren Titsworth, who faces juvenile probation.
A Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer responded to the same Marathon station June 4 on a report of counterfeit bills being used. When a Warsaw officer arrived, Hoyle came forward and said he was the one with the fake bills, which had the same serial numbers as the ones previously used.
He told police he traded a $100 bill for five $20s from a friend whose name he didn’t know, according to the affidavit.
Police obtained consent to search Hoyle’s car, where they found a gas mask that contained marijuana residue and a pill bottle containing what they identified as one gram of marijuana.
Hoyle admitted to obtaining the bills from a man he named, who has not been charged at this time, and said he knew the counterfeit bills “looked funny,” the affidavit states.
A warrant was issued April 1 for Hoyle’s arrest, with bond set at $2,000. He was arrested Monday and taken to the Kosciusko County jail.
(Story By The Times Union)
