i did a google search and came up wih a graduation photo from Bill Toohey's police academy
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."
Oh for Pete's sake...the cashiers are stupid, the police are stupid and the spokesman blaming it on 911...stupid.
The Baltimore police industry is infested with Cleaseaus!
After you do, report back. :)
I tell you what wuss, if I may call you by your first name. If it was within a hundred miles of me I'd be headed there right now with a pocket full of $2 to make fun of them. When you get arrested for doing something legal it's time to raise hell.
BTW Just who do you suggest we call in the future to ask permission to legally do something.
This should be good for a couple hundred grand.
The test of legitimacy for a merchant to detain a customer is "resonableness." This fellow will have no problem locating a lawyer who will ultimately ask a jury to determine whether the conduct of Best Buy, not the police, was reasonable under the circumstances. Based on the report posted here, it was not and Best Buy should be prepared to get out its checkbook.
i did a google search and came up wih a graduation photo from Bill Toohey's police academy
I did not know that. Very interesting. Thanks!
Now that's scary.
Criminy what a pack of retards.
If it's any consolation to you, I always ask for $2 bills whenever I enter a bank. It's a "thing" with me.
Hang in there, and never let 'em see you sweat!
'Face
His lawyer will get a third of the Million Best Buy will be paying him.
"Susan B. Anthony angered so many people in her time that shopkeepers would refuse to take her money. Shows us that even back in her day, nobody wanted to take a Susan B. Anthony dollar."
- ( Carson or Leno )
ROFLMAO!
Or if you bought fingernail clippers for your plane trip!
heh.
"BTW Just who do you suggest we call in the future to ask permission to legally do something."
ROFLMAO. I can see the Bob Newhart routine now.
"Hello, Police? I'd like to ask permission to spend my money...no, no, it's MY money...yes, it's real...well, I need your permission because I heard somebody got arrested for spending THEIR money, and I don't want...yes, it's NOT COUNTERFEIT, I said that...I don't know why he was arrested either, probably Baltimore PD was...yes, I KNOW Baltimore is full of dumbasses..."
heh heh
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