Posted on 04/07/2005 2:46:06 PM PDT by TitansAFC
A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police.
According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case.
Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole – and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."
After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest, Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.
As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident has a hearty supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the bills to students who take his tours for meal money.
"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"
Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the cashier at Best Buy Feb. 20.
"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money – like she's doing me a favor."
Belesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"
"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."
According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called. One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.
Said Bolesta: "I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank.' I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'
"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"
Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called.
"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."
Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."
Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."
(sigh)
I know someone that has an authentic $10,000 bill. I can imagine the reaction if they tried to spend it.
"Maryland Cultural Ping."
Like hell it is.
*My* Maryland starts west of South mountain.
We got nothin' to do with what them silly flatlanders are up to.....;))
We were up to the local biker bar last night [on the summit of South Mtn, no less] and the back of the bar is plastered with $3 bills.
[Monica bills, Slick Willy bills, sKerry bills].....LOL!
http://dogpatch-greenbriarinn.com/
There are a lot of police actions which get into court in which the actions taken in the heat of a moment are argued pro and con regarding the issue of reasonableness. This was not a "heat of the moment" incident. There was plenty of time to make a sound decision without a lengthy detention, IMO.
The use of markers dates back fairly recently to the discovery of super bills. Those were counterfeit $100 bills that were so good that they passed the federal reserves scanners without getting kicked out. The counterfeiter used the same paper by bleaching out $1 bills, the same ink and the same presses the Bureau of Engraving uses. Besdies that they all had different numbers. That kicked off the currency changes in this country starting with $100s and working down.
My guess is the marker somehow reacts to the residual chemical used to bleach the paper.
Amazing. All those people at that Best Buy, all the customers, all the clerks, all the cops; not one of them has heard of a $2 bill?
They are about 1/16 of an inch wider.
Well the US post office machines spit them out as change around here.
In the south of france : )
What the fudge? A car radio installation fee... 911!!!
That's what I was wondering...sort of adds insult to injury.
I hope they order it payed in cash. In $2 bills.
My grandfather used to carry a pocket full of Susan B. Anthony dollars around just to agravate the store clerks. They usually had to call the manager for help.
They're still in print! I just got a sheet of them :-) Series 2003
One of the reasons I have heard that US $2 bills are not commonly used is that they are or were considered bad luck. In this case it was bad luck initially but depending on the final outcome of this case...could be good luck in spades!
I agree. It's unfathomable that neither a single manager at Best Buy nor the police were capable of making a common sense decision. Like previous posters have stated, I'm normally opposed to legal action where someone may have made an "honest" mistake, but this is egregious, there is simply no excuse.
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