Second woman charged with counterfeiting using bills marked for “Motion Picture Purposes”
Photo illustration: crime and courts / MGN
(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester woman was scheduled to appear in Olmsted County Court Wednesday after allegedly trying to pass a $100 bill marked “for motion picture purposes” at a southwest business.
Rhonda Ann Malloy, 44, faces a gross misdemeanor charge of counterfeiting currency–uttering or possessing, for allegedly attempting to pay for goods with a bill marked with phrases like “In Props We Trust” and “Prop Money, Inc.”
According to court records, Malloy failed to appear for her May 10 hearing.
According to court records, Rochester police responded to a fraud call at a southwest Rochester business on March 20, where Malloy had allegedly tried to make a purchase with a credit card.
When the card was declined, Malloy allegedly passed an employee the $100 bill, which the employee ran through the counterfeit detection machine.
The employee told Malloy the bill was fake and stopped her from leaving the store with her attempted purchase.
According to court records, the employee also told Rochester police an unidentified man, who was seen getting out of Malloy’s car just before the transaction and getting back into the car as she left, was distracting other employees at the store while Malloy attempted to pass the bill.
Malloy later told police she had not known the bill was counterfeit before attempting to pay with it. She said she got the bill from a friend.
According to court records, the bill was marked with “For Motion Picture Purposes” and similar notations in several locations.
ABC 6 News previously reported on a similar case, in which Stewartville resident Jolissa Nicole Dunn was charged with two counts of counterfeiting for passing similarly marked bills.