14 replies to this topic

[wretched]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/03/09/mil...l.ap/index.html

Quote

$1 million bill leads to arrest

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Posted: 5:29 AM EST (1029 GMT)
 
Alice Regina Pike faces forgery charges.


COVINGTON, Georgia (AP) -- A Georgia woman who tried to use a fake $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at Wal-Mart was arrested, and police later found two more of the bills in her purse.

The U.S. Treasury does not make $1 million bills, but similar-looking currency is sold in some souvenir shops. The fake bill featured a picture of the Statue of Liberty, police said.

"It looks real, but of course there's nothing real about this," said Stacey Cotton, police chief in Covington, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. "People do crazy things all the time."

A store clerk immediately noticed the bill was fake when 35-year-old Alice Regina Pike handed it to her on Friday, Cotton said.

Pike then tried to use two gift cards worth only $2.32 to buy the merchandise, but when that did not work she again asked to cash the $1 million bill, Cotton said. The store then called police.

Pike was jailed on forgery charges. A woman who answered the phone at the jail said she did not know if Pike has a lawyer.

I wonder what she was wanting to buy at Walmart

[z2z007]

I guess she was trying to get a real million dollars worth of change.

[Spices86]

man, it never fails to amaze me how crazy some people are.

[MaMoNy]

or stupid

[Wizard]

Dude, at wal-mart none the less. If she was lucky the clerk wouldn't have cared to bother with calling the police.

[Xilenx]

How do you arrest someone that tried to use a million dollar bill? It's not like she assaulted the clerk or anything...

[z2z007]

The use or the attempt to use counterfeit bills is a criminal offense. That would be the grounds on her arrest.

[Xilenx]

Counterfeit:
adj.
Made in imitation of what is genuine with the intent to defraud: a counterfeit dollar bill.
Simulated; feigned: a counterfeit illness.

I mean...like the article said, the you.S. Treasury doesn't even make a $1 million dollar bill, and she did not create a duplicate of anything.

[LeonM]

Imitate :

1. imitate, copy, simulate -- (reproduce someone's behavior or looks; "The mime imitated the passers-by"; "Children often copy their parents or older siblings")
2. imitate -- (appear like, as in behavior or appearance; "Life imitate art")
3. imitate -- (make a reproduction or copy of)

don't limit yourself to the third definition, to imitate does not mean to replicate.

[Xilenx]

I used the adj version of counterfeit because that's what this lady supposely did, make a counterfeit 1 million dollar bill.

I just don't see how her just trying to use a million dollar bill will lead to her arrest, especially since it wasn't fake because you can't fake something that does not exists.

[z2z007]

It isn't legal tender therefore it is fake. If you make your case, then the lady's bill should have been accepted.

[WEBS]

My bet is the fake bill had some kind of government seal on it or anything else that would imply that the bill is government sponsored, thats the only reason she should've gotten arrested.

[Xilenx]

No, my case would be that society agrees on a currency system, a medium of all trade. If a lady decides to bring in a "1 million dollar bill" and her and the cash registry person agree that it is a justified medium of trade then it could be used. However, we know it is not. That is why the cashier can simply say "that piece of paper you hold in your hand means nothing."
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This person tried to imitate something my eco teach talked about before, how some people carry big bills, and businesses assume that it is legal tender and won't charge this person simply because they are too rich. But that to me sounds so far fetched because it's not like this woman was famous or known for her wealth.
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Even with a government label on it, who in their right mind assumes that a million dollar bill even exists? And a holder of these bills, why would they be shopping for it themselves, at Walmart?

[z2z007]

The lady just attempting to use that bill is a criminal offense because it wrong to conduct a transaction with illegal tender. She has attempted to do that and she deserves to suffer the consequences no matter how pathetic the crime sounds like.

[Xilenx]

I just don't see why the cashier would even bother calling the cops about this kind of issue...Saying 'no, we don't accept that' seems perfectly legitimate. But I guess she is a 'good citizen' for making sure to stop all those criminals against the law.