f13.net forums - Spend $2 bills and go directly to jail.

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
July 26, 2025, 01:25:06 AM

we're back, baby

Quote from: Baltimore Sun

Careful with your $2 bills

PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.

For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

"Humiliating," the 57-year old Bolesta was saying now. "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole -- and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

What we have here, besides humiliation, is a sense of caution resulting in screw-ups all around.

"When I bought the stereo player," Bolesta explains, "the technician said it'd fit perfectly into my son's dashboard. But it didn't. So they called back and said they had another model that would fit perfectly, and it was cheaper. We got a $67 refund, which was fine. As long as it fit, that's all.

"So we go back and pay for it, and they tell us to go around front with our receipt and pick up the difference in the cost. I ask about installation charges. They said, 'No installation charge, because of the mix-up. Our mistake, no charge.' Swell.

"But then, the next day, I get a call at home. They're telling me, 'If you don't come in and pay the installation fee, we're calling the police.' Jeez, where did we go from them admitting a mistake to suddenly calling the police? So I say, 'Fine, I'll be in tomorrow.' But, overnight, I'm starting to steam a little. It's not the money -- it's the threat. So I thought, I'll count out a few $2 bills."

He has lots and lots of them.

With his Capital City Student Tours, he arranges class trips for school kids around the country traveling to large East Coast cities, including Baltimore. He's been doing this for the last 18 years. He makes all the arrangements: hotels, meals, entertainment. And it's part of his schtick that, when Bolesta hands out meal money to students, he does it in $2 bills, which he picks up from his regular bank, Sun Trust.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

At Best Buy, they may have perceived the protest -- but did not sense the comic aspect of 57 $2 bills.

"I'm just here to pay the bill," Bolesta says he told a cashier. "She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money. Like she's doing me a favor."

He remembers the cashier marking each bill with a pen. Then other store personnel began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

"I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank,'" Bolesta says. "I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was then taken to the county police lockup in Cockeysville, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called in.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

The other day, one of Bolesta's sons needed a few bucks. Bolesta pulled out his wallet and "whipped out a couple of $2 bills. But my son turned away. He said he doesn't want 'em any more."

He's seen where such money can lead.

Also found here.

Bolesta has to be like, the WORST name ever to be caught in the clink with.

Wow, way to protect and serve, copper. Arrest a man for using $2 bills.

I think he's a got a good case for a suit. That's just fucking ridiculous.

Man, I would sue Best Buy for $2 million in emotional damages, and make them pay it all in $2 bills.

Bruce

Quote from: Paelos on April 07, 2005, 10:58:18 AM

Bolesta has to be like, the WORST name ever to be caught in the clink with.

Bolesta the molesta!

"I can't remember her name, but it rhymes with a body part..."
...some time later
"Mulva?"
"I'm leaving Jerry"
walks out
"Wait, it's Delores!"

Quote from: Paelos on April 07, 2005, 10:58:18 AM

Bolesta has to be like, the WORST name ever to be caught in the clink with.

Especially in the Cockeysville Jail. Seriously, it sounds like an SnL skit.

BTW, my wife ran into a somewhat similar situation Saturday night- she went to buy something at the concessions stand at a hockey game, and had to convince the dunce behind the counter that in fact a $2 bill is legal tender.

It should also be legal to hit people in the face with a claw hammer who give you shit about it. Then go beat the shit out of their teachers.

I can tell you right now that that township would be in hock to me for about a decade and I'd own that Best Buy.

I'm definately paying for everything with $2 bills from now on.

I want to sue the shit out of a hicktown. Boo ya.

I run into this sort of thing a lot, but not to the same severity. My gig is Susan B. Anthony dollars. Whenever I want to start shit and hold up a line, I'll pay for stuff like lunch or a CD with them. It's the best thing ever, especially when it's some retard teenager running the register who's never heard of them or seen one and won't accept that they're not quarters. Some of the arguements it's let me start have been magical. It's like board trolling IRL.

Quote

It's like board trolling IRL.

Classic.

I like to use those stupid gold $1 coins from the Post Office vending machines. (Are those Susan B's?) Man, people hate those things. Go buy a book of stamps with a $20 and watch the change come back in little gold coins. Now, spend those gold coins and watch the looks of disbelief begin.

Sacagewea's were distributed by WalMart. They're genetically crafted to be hated.

Susan B's were the dollar coin before the Indian wench, and they were even more annoying.

Next, try using your Eisenhower "silver" dollars!

Bruce

The dollar coins are useful for vending machines.

They are also great for tips. Good to throw some in the golf bag.

I'm inspired. I'm going to load up on dollar coins, $.50 pieces, and $2 bills and annoy the shit out of ~~some local businesses~~Walmart! It would be funny if this guy spurred a new popularity in under-used currency as a statement of sorts.

Quote from: A copper

"It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

Because terrorists will use their counterfeit money to install stereos in their son's cars. Suck my 9/11 cock, asshole. Way to be a scared little man.

Woops, I swore a lilbit.

(edited because I got even more inspired and added some strike tags + new target)

Quote from: Strazos on April 08, 2005, 09:22:05 PM

/. is full of uglies.

No doubt. Preach on, brotha.

This is a true story that happened to me at Purdue University at the Knight Spot Grill in Cary Quadrangle. My roommate and I were in there late one night. No one else was around, which was fairly typical. I ordered something to drink, paid in bills, and got a couple of quarters back in change. We then went over to the pinball machine to play a game. I put in the quarter but it went right through and out the change slot. I examined it and noted it was, in fact, a Canadian quarter.

I returned to the cashier whom had handed me the Canadian quarter moments before. "Excuse me," I said, "but you gave me a Canadian quarter. I'd like a real [US] one, please."

"I'm sorry, we don't take Canadian money."

"No, you don't understand. You gave this to me instead of an actual quarter. I want my correct change."

"No, that's impossible. We don't take Canadian coins, so I couldn't have given that to you."

I was incredulous. "You think I came in here with a Canadian quarter and arranged this just to steal 25 cents?" After a few more failed attempts to convince the flunkie, we gave up and left.

I never ate there again.

Bruce

Here in Rochester, NY, we get Canadian coins all the time in change. Usually try to give them to the I-90 tollbooth operators, they'll accept them... heck, most businesses around here will take them, at least, I've never had one turn one down.

Alkiera

I'm not surprised that businesses in near the border do since they, no doubt, deal with Canadian money frequently I can tell you most places in the rest of the US will not. As usual, the real value of currency for an individual is how easily they can turn around and use that currency with someone else.

Bruce

I'm a little confused.

The two dollar bill is legal tender and this guy was arrested for it ?

Seriously, I don't get it. Where's the followup story of the lawsuit ?

Quote from: Ironwood on April 11, 2005, 06:19:59 AM

I'm a little confused.

The two dollar bill is legal tender and this guy was arrested for it ?

Seriously, I don't get it. Where's the followup story of the lawsuit ?

(I am assuming you don't have the context because you're euro-something)

The $2 is rare. Many people are ignorant and figure that it must be a forgery. Sometimes those people are officers of the law.

I don't know where the lawsuit is though. In his case I would probably file a harassment lawsuit even though I'm against frivolous litigation just to highlight the case. There's no excuse for a citizen to be detained like that when the information ($2 bills exist) is quite freely available.

In defense of the authorities:

Part of the problem is not that he paid in $2 bills, it's that the bills were a. crisp, b. sequential, and c. the in started to run on one of them when it was marked.

I'd be fucking suspicious if I noticed a bunch of crisp new sequential $20s being passed off on me.

If they weren't $2 bills, I don't think anyone would have looked at them hard enough to tell that they were sequential serial numbers. I did a brief stint as a cashier back in my college days, and I know I sure wouldn't have had the time to bother with that kind of thing. Except for those goddamn carnies that would come in and pay for thirty bucks worth of food and beer entirely with small change, argh....

Susan B's were great, though. I once bought a newspaper from a vendor with one; the guy assumed it was a quarter and didn't give me any change. I argued with him over it until he got mad, opened up his register and gave me back three quarters just to shut me up. Since he didn't bother to ever look, he didn't realize he gave me back my original dollar coin in the process...

Just out of curiosity.. How many of you have never seen a $2 bill, or a one dollar coin?

I live in a tourist town a ferry ride away from canada, so I see all this stuff on a daily basis.

Most older folk have probably seen a $2 bill, but I'd bet that most cashiers (and those are generally folks under 22, right?) have not. The half-dollar is also pretty rarely used; most people who do know it have seen the Kennedy but never the Franklin. I'd say most people have probably seen both the Sac and Susie dollar coins; however, I bet a lot of people under 30 haven't seen a Eisenhower dollar. I have, but then my dad collected coins. :)

A good number of people have probably never held a $50 or $100 dollar bill in their hand, either.

Bruce

Bah, the more I read this article the fishier this guys story is. He describes himself as 6' 5"...... Wanna bet he came into the store in a huff, and tried to physically intimidate some teenage cashier making minimum wage with his size?

I'd have the guy thrown in handcuffs too....

/shrug..... Even then, it sounds like he tried to take out his frustration on some poor sap who had nothing to do with it. It's management/policy he has a beef with, not the poor min wage earner.

Looks like $100 Bills are unwelcome at Jack-in-the-Crack

http://www.katc.com/global/story.asp?s=3140075&ClientType=Printable

Quote

Student handcuffed for using old money
Apr 3, 2005, 8:26 PM
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A student's old money got him handcuffed and hauled away from a drive-through lane in a squad car.

That shouldn't happen, and Alfred Kennedy III must get a trial on his defamation charge against the Jack in the Box restaurant chain and and false arrest charges against the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office, a state appeal court has ruled.

Kennedy was arrested after he paid for meals for himself and four female students with a $100 Federal Reserve Note from 1974 — one his great-grandmother had mailed to him.

Neither the workers at the restaurant on Dec. 7, 2001, nor the sheriff's deputies who answered their call recognized it as real money.

"'Old' currency is still legal tender of the United States," Judge Jefferson D. Hughes III wrote in the 3-0 decision for the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. "Citizens should not be at risk for spending legal tender."

The 1st Circuit found that District Judge William A. Morvant incorrectly dismissed the lawsuit which Kennedy brought in December 2003, the month he graduated from Southern University with an engineering degree.

Kennedy — who had a 2.8 average at Southern and had been an honors high-school student — is working as an assistant accountant for the Orleans Parish School board while he looks for work in engineering, said his attorney, Harley M. Brown.

He said that the restaurant employees stalled Kennedy — sending out just the drinks, then the wrong items — until deputies showed up. The deputies, Brown said, "didn't ask questions — just took him out of the car. Placed cuffs on him. When he asked what was happening, they told him to keep his mouth shut."

Kennedy was cuffed and taken to the Scotlandville substation while deputies looked at nearby convenience stores for a "counterfeit detector pen" — one that makes an amber mark on the paper used for legitimate currency but a dark one on most other high-quality paper.

Kennedy testified that, while he was being taken to the substation, a deputy told him the bill would be tested, and he would get it back if it proved to be genuine.

That did eventually happen.

However, the 1st Circuit ruled, the sheriff's office and restaurant didn't show any evidence that anyone who looked at Kennedy's money had the knowledge needed to evaluate it and decide Kennedy should be held while it was tested.

"There was no explanation as to why counterfeit markers, which were admittedly readily available at local convenience stores, were not available to the defendants' employees," Judge Jefferson D. Hughes wrote for himself and Judges Vanessa G. Whipple and Bob Downing.

Leu Ann Greco, a sheriff's office attorney, said the court "missed the point."

She said Kennedy wasn't arrested — just held long enough for deputies to verify the bill was legal. "They were justified in holding him a total of 30 to 40 minutes while they checked out the bill," she said.

Stephen Wilson, the attorney for Jack in the Box, said he would recommend that the company appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Reporting a suspicious bill wasn't defamation, he said. "We didn't even know who tendered the bill. We certainly didn't accuse this gentleman of a crime."

Dude, seriously, make freaking change. Go to the bank for that crap.

I'm just wondering where he thinks he's going to get engineering work with a 2.8 GPA.

Quote

Student handcuffed for using old money
Kennedy — who had a 2.8 average at Southern and had been an honors high-school student — is working as an assistant accountant for the Orleans Parish School board while he looks for work in engineering, said his attorney, Harley M. Brown.

Note also that Southern University is a traditionally black college, and that this is the south, and connect the dots.

Yeah, it's the same state that ended up on Dateline NBC for pulling over nearly minority that plied I-10 to search their cars for drugs. And were known to sieze their cars and never return them, even though no charges were ever brought.

Quote from: SirBruce on April 11, 2005, 07:09:57 PM

A good number of people have probably never held a $50 or $100 dollar bill in their hand, either.

Bruce

Everytime I tell people I've held a canadian $1000 bill, they laugh at me.

As for this guys situation, I understand their suspicion of the $2 bills. I'd be suspicious too if that happened here. Our $2 bills are long gone. But, I don't know if it warranted him being arrested and the secret service being called in. Don't you guys have any bill security features? Every best buy/future shop up here has black lights to make sure bills are legit.