A 55-year-old Ocala woman is facing multiple felony charges after she was caught using counterfeit $20 bills at a local Dollar General store.
On Monday, April 1, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to the Dollar General located at 6905 NE Jacksonville Road in Ocala in reference to the business receiving counterfeit currency from a female customer.
Prior to arriving at the Dollar General on NE Jacksonville Road, the deputy was informed by MCSO that two other local businesses – a Tractor Supply store and another Dollar General location – had contacted the sheriff’s office to report that a woman had attempted to purchase items with counterfeit bills, according to the arrest report.
Upon arrival at Dollar General, the deputy made contact with an employee who advised that a female customer had provided a total of $320 in fake $20 bills to a cashier in exchange for the money being put onto her Cash App account. The report stated that video surveillance footage provided by the business showed that the female customer in question matched the woman who had attempted to use the counterfeit currency at Tractor Supply and the second Dollar General store.
On Tuesday, April 2, the deputy responded to a local Circle K gas station after learning that the same female suspect had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase gas with counterfeit currency the previous day. In the report, the deputy noted that the female suspect was heard on video surveillance footage telling one of the gas station’s employees that she had “just received the money from the bank.”
The report stated that the deputy recognized the female suspect after reviewing the surveillance footage, and she was identified as Venice Lynette Honor.
The deputy located Honor in the 2400 block of NW 40th Street in Ocala. After being read her Miranda rights, Honor admitted to being at the Dollar General store on NE Jacksonville Road on April 1, though she denied any knowledge that the money she had handed to the cashier was counterfeit. She claimed that a man had given her the money with instructions to have the funds placed on his Cash App account, according to the report.
During the post-Miranda interview, Honor stated that she eventually found out that the bills were counterfeit when a cashier at Circle K refused to accept them. The deputy noted that when Honor was asked about the two other businesses where she had allegedly attempted to use the counterfeit currency, she became “evasive” and denied being at those locations.
Honor was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail, where she is currently being held on a $13,000 bond. She is being charged with four counts of passing a counterfeited bank bill, one count of possessing more than 10 counterfeit bills, and one count of first-degree petit theft over $100 but less than $300.
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.