An Ocala elementary school student quickly gained the attention of staff members and a school resource officer after bringing a counterfeit $100 bill to school earlier this week.
The resource officer at Legacy Elementary School, who is a Marion County sheriff’s deputy, was approached by the facility’s cafeteria manager Monday after she received the funny money $100 bill. She said that a student had brought the bill to her to ask if it was real and she had confiscated it after explaining that it was fake, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy looked over the bill and noticed that it had the words “Play Money” written on the back of it. He spoke with the student who gave the money to the cafeteria manager and was told that she received it from a classmate. She said she was curious about the authenticity of the bill so she asked about it, adding that she had no intentions of using it, the report says.
The deputy spoke to the girl’s third-grade classmate, who said he obtained the bill from his cousin and he thought it was real. He said he brought it to school because he wanted to share it with his friends, the report says.
The deputy then made contact with the boy’s father to gather more information about the counterfeit bill. He told the deputy that his son’s cousin uses the bill as “prop money” for home entertainment. He said he was unaware that his son had the fake money and promised to explain to him the seriousness of having and using counterfeit bills, the report says, adding that the father also pointed out that fake money can be purchased on a variety of websites.
Based on the information gathered, the deputy made the decision to not call the Secret Service and report the issue. He placed the counterfeit bill into evidence at the sheriff’s Silver Springs Shores District Office and requested that the case be closed.