Bladen County Sheriff James A. McVicker said the Bladen County 911 Center received numerous calls Sunday morning around 10:00 am of people in the highway in the 9000 block of US Hwy 701 North picking up money from the roadway. “Our Dispatchers were getting calls of people in the roadway, including children grabbing what appeared to be money from the roadway and impeding traffic,” said McVicker.
“Deputies and White Lake Police Department officers responded to the area and although there were no people around when they arrived, they did find money on the highway and the shoulders of the road.”
McVicker said the officers collected a total of $34,465.00 in fake US currency. The bills were in several denominations, including, $100, $20, $10, and $5 bills.
“We have no idea where the money came from,” he said. “We have notified the US Secret Service for assistance and will continue to investigate.” McVicker said some of the bills were obviously counterfeit but some were more sophisticated and could have passed for real currency if the person taking the money was not alert.
Sheriff McVicker urges anyone who might have picked some of this money up to please bring it to the Sheriff’s office. He also urges local merchants to be particularly careful when accepting large denominations of currency. “We have no idea how much of this fake money was picked up before law enforcement was notified and arrived on the scene,” he said.
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