ST. GEORGE — A man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly tried to use a $100 fake bill to pay for another night in a Springdale hotel.
According to the probable cause statement filed in support of the arrest, the incident was reported on Saturday when officers responded to a hotel in Springdale after an employee called police reporting suspicious currency.
Officers arrived to learn that a guest, identified as 24-year-old Nathaniel Beasley, of Aloha, Oregon, had attempted to book his room for another night using a $100 bill that made the desk clerk suspicious after noticing the bill did not have the feel or texture of U.S. currency.
Springdale Police Officer Britt Ballard told St. George News the bill felt like regular paper, instead of the linen-feel of authentic U.S. currency.
Upon closer inspection, the employee also noted the word “copy” printed on both sides of the bill that was also lacking the watermark that is imprinted on official currency.
Police say the employee also told officers when they refused to accept the bill as tender for the room, the suspect told them he had found the bill in Las Vegas and this was his first chance to use the bill. When the clerk offered to dispose of the fraudulent currency, the suspect reportedly took it back and said he would discard it in his room.
Officers went to the suspect’s hotel room to speak to the suspect and inspect the bill, which is when they noticed the bill appeared to be smaller than official currency and was clearly labeled “Not legal tender” and also marked as “Movie Money.”
Considering all of the markings clearly displayed on the bill, along with the abnormal feel of the currency, officers asked Beasley how he acquired the bill. The suspect reportedly told police the same story he gave the desk clerk about finding the currency in Nevada, adding that he had no idea the bill was fake.
The bill was collected as evidence, Ballard said, and the suspect was arrested and transported to Purgatory Correctional Facility facing one third-degree felony count of forgery.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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