NEWS RELEASE
ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE
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Officers from the Huronia West Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police arrested a male recently for using counterfeit currency at various businesses in the area.
On Aug. 20, 2019 Huronia West OPP officers received a complaint of a counterfeit U.S. $50 bill that was used at a business in Clearview Township.
Officers were able to obtain a vehicle description and plate information and began to patrol for the vehicle which was eventually located southbound on 45th Street in Wasaga Beach. A vehicle stop was initiated where the suspect was arrested and transported to detachment.
Further investigation found that the suspect had attended a business in Elmvale a few days prior and had used another $50 US bill with the same serial number.
At the time of his arrest, the male was found to be in possession of three more $50 US bills with the same serial number as the other two occurrences.
Steven Slack, 43 years old of Barrie, has been charged with two counts of uttering counterfeit money, two counts of failing to comply with probation order and one count of possessing counterfeit money.
He was held for a bail hearing on Aug. 20, 2019 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Barrie.
This is a good reminder to all merchants to be vigilant when accepting larger denominations of cash for small purchases or to exchange for Canadian currency.
In this occurrence the serial number of the counterfeit bills was MD50720047B and there is a possibility that more businesses may have taken the bills as being genuine. If this is the case please contact the OPP Provincial Communications Centers at 1-888-310-1122 to report the incident to your local detachment.
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