Homeless man splashes fake cash

A homeless man today admitted passing off four fake US $50 notes at four different businesses.

Bryan Marshall, 44, went to Liberty Theatre, Mr Chicken, Esso Tiger Mart and Phoenix with the fake money and passed it off as genuine three out of four times.

On February 17 at 2:15pm, Marshall went to the Liberty Theatre and gave the owner a $50 bill to buy a movie ticket.

He was given $38 change and a ticket but didn’t go inside to see the movie. Instead, the defendant left.

The owner didn’t know the bill was fake.

At 2:30pm, Marshall went to Mr Chicken and ordered a variety of food items. He handed over a second $50 note and was given an unknown amount of change.

Later that day, the note was retrieved by the manager who thought it was counterfeit and called the police.

At 2:43pm, the defendant went to Esso, also known as the 24-hour gas station, and tried to buy a package of Dentyne gum and a small coffee.

He handed a third note to the cashier who told him it was fake.

The defendant claimed the note was real and said: “Are you serious? Someone gave it to me”.

The cashier then told him she was going to call the police and Marshall left the area.

At 2:50pm, Marshall went to the Phoenix Store to buy items and gave the cashier the final fake note.

The cashier didn’t know the note was fake and gave the defendant change.

The company’s financial controller discovered it was counterfeit after the defendant had left.

Marshall was approached by police minutes later at 3:05pm about passing fake money.

He told the officers he thought the money was real.

Marshall was arrested and in a police interview he admitted he knew the money was fake and someone from Curving Avenue had given it to him.

He said he used the fake notes to get genuine currency to buy drugs.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo ordered pre-sentencing reports and remanded Marshall into custody.

He will be sentenced next month.