Recently, several cases were reported to the Newcastle Police Department involving poorly made counterfeit $50 and $100 bills.

Multiple suspects, all operating from the same location outside of the city, were presenting these bills for purchases of anything from private party sales to purchases at local retailers, such as Papa Murphy’s.

Newcastle Police had experience with all of the suspects in these cases last year, and filed charges on them in previous cases. In the past two weeks, Newcastle patrol officers and Detective Chris Leyba have performed multiple felony arrests on the persons involved and filed cases with the King County Prosecutor’s Office on several parties in this series.

On June 11, Newcastle officers conducted a stakeout of a location outside of the city and found one of the females involved in three cases of counterfeiting in the city. The female was taken into custody on multiple misdemeanor and felony warrants, and was found during arrest to be in possession of more counterfeit bills, as well as heroin and methamphetamine.

Based on interviews and investigations the Newcastle Police Department believes this activity will now cease in the city. However, if you believe you have received any of these counterfeit bills and haven’t filed a police report yet, locals can contact the Newcastle Police Department at 425-649-4444 or police@newcastlewa.gov.