Barnes and Noble Bookstore fell victim to criminal acts last week as counterfeit money made its way into the business register and several textbooks were reported stolen.
Crook Steal BooksA representative of Barnes and Noble Bookstore contacted University Police Department Tuesday to report several textbooks had been stolen from the bookstore. Police performed an initial search of the area and located a white male who fit the description provided by the employee.
“After the manager gave us a better suspect description, the officers located and identified a male who fit the description,” UPD Capt. Kevin Morris said. “With all the information collected, the suspect was highly qualified of being involved in the theft.”
Police brought the suspect back to the bookstore, however, Barnes and Noble could not account for any missing property.”They couldn’t say for sure what was missing so they couldn’t prove that the theft had taken place,” Morris said. “The officers released the gentleman after the bookstore could not provide evidence that property was missing.”
Though the suspect was released, officers found there was enough evidence to serve the male with a criminal trespassing warning, which means the individual is not permitted into the bookstore.”Barnes and Noble seemed content with that arrangement,” Morris saidUPD has submitted the case to the Dean of Students to see if there were any further violations committed by the suspect through the Student Code of Conduct.
Show me the real money
While ten dollars hardly seems like something worth going to jail over, members of the University Police Department are conducting an investigation to find the source of two instances of counterfit money.
A Barnes and Noble Bookstore employee reported to UPD last Monday about a counterfit ten dollar bill that had been taken during a transaction on Feb. 6.
“The ten [dollar bill] was really bad,” UPD Capt. Kevin Morris said. “I’m not sure why it was taken. The colors were extremely off.”
Police believe the fraudulent money was passed through the bookstore the same day a counterfit 20 dollar bill was given to Aramark at the Paw Print dining facility.
“The 20 that was passed was of decent quality, however, it was lacking several of the security measures,” Morris said. “It was visible that the watermark in the 20 wasn’t there. It didn’t have the red or blue small 20s on it or the strip that runs perpendicular, either.”
According to UPD, instances of counterfit money are not frequent on campus. There are no suspects at this time but an investigator has been interviewing cashiers to obtain suspect information.
“This is a difficult investigation because both of these bills were taken in at a place where there is no video survalence available,” Morris said. “Numerous transactions take place at both of those locations so it’s hard to narrow it to one transaction.”