Local & State Headlines

Police break up counterfeit ring

• Albany authorities say thousands in counterfeit dollars were seized Wednesday during the raid of a Moultrie Road home.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — Investigators say they have shut down a sophisticated counterfeit money operation that supplied demand in Atlanta and Tallahassee after a Wednesday afternoon raid of a Moultrie Road residence.

Just after 11 a.m., Albany Police raided a home at 120A Moultrie Road and arrested Dennis Jerome Richardson, 38, and his girlfriend, Lashonda Taylor, 23, on charges of counterfeiting money.

“They found thousands of dollars of counterfeit money,” APD spokesperson Phyllis Banks said. “Hundreds, 50’s, 20’s, they found it all, including computers and high-end graphics equipment.”

Banks said investigators do not have a final tally on the total amount of bogus money seized at the house, but that the operation was supplying demand for the bills in Atlanta and Tallahassee.

Richardson was charged with four counts of first-degree forgery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of marijuana. Taylor was charged with one count of second-degree forgery and possession of marijuana.

The raid comes on the heels of the arrest of Catrice Glivens, who was charged Saturday with handing out bogus currency to teenagers to buy items at Hibbett’s Sporting Goods. Upon her arrest, Banks said investigators found more than $1,000 in counterfeit bills.

Wednesday afternoon, APD investigators and agents with the U.S. Secret Service sifted through the counterfeit cash at the Albany Law Enforcement Center.

Banks said the operation was a major distributor of counterfeit bills and fake checks throughout Southwest Georgia and North Florida.

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