Man arrested during traffic stop after allegedly passing counterfeit bills in 2 Southern Utah towns

Stock image | Photo by Barbol88/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A suspect wanted in connection with two unrelated investigations into counterfeit bills was arrested Saturday after officers were able to identify the suspect allegedly responsible.

Colten Blaine Holm, 28, of Washington City, booking photo taken in Washington County April 4, 2020 | Photo courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Colten Blaine Holm, 28, 0f Washington City, has been charged with two second-degree felony counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and five third-degree felony offenses, including three counts each of forgery and possession of a forgery/writing device, as well as a misdemeanor driving on a suspended license charge.

The arrest stems from two investigations, the first of which involved four counterfeit $100 bills that were reportedly passed at a convenience store in Apple Valley March 25. As the investigation progressed, the store provided video surveillance footage of the suspect allegedly passing the fake bills over to police, according to the probable cause statements filed in support of the arrest.

Meanwhile, an officer in LaVerkin was dispatched to a report of a suspect attempting to pass a counterfeit $100 bill at a store in the area on Friday. And according to the report, the clerk confiscated the bill and later turned it over to police, along with the license plate number and description of the vehicle the suspect was driving.

While investigating the LaVerkin report, the officer received a call from the deputy on the Apple Valley case and both viewed the surveillance footage collected from the convenience store and were able to identify the suspect in both incidents as Holm.

Later, when the LaVerkin officer ran the license plate number provided by the clerk in that case, it came back showing Holm as the registered owner of the vehicle.

Moreover, a comparison of the bills taken from both cases later revealed that each of the bills were imprinted with the same serial number, at which point an attempt to locate was then issued for the suspect, according to a statement released by the LaVerkin Police Department Tuesday.

On Saturday, the deputy observed a vehicle matching the description of the one allegedly used in the LaVerkin incident driven by the suspect both agencies were looking for, at which point he conducted a traffic stop, according to the charging documents.

During the stop, the suspect was taken into custody while a K-9 was called in and deployed to conduct a sniff around the vehicle, and the animal indicated to the possible presence of drugs.

During a search of the car, officers allegedly found methamphetamine, heroin and paraphernalia “throughout the vehicle,” in addition to two counterfeit $100 bills that were found during a search of his person prior to transport, the officer noted in the report.

The suspect was transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility, and, during an interview with police, the suspect allegedly admitted that he attempted to pass one of the counterfeit $100 bills at a store in LaVerkin. The officer in that case did not go to the jail to interview the suspect, due to coronavirus precautions, and submitted one third-degree felony count of forgery to the Washington County Attorney’s Office for review, a charge that was later filed and included in the report.

The suspect remains in custody on $47,770 bail.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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