'Fake money' being passed in Ronan

By JOE SOVA

Lake County Leader

As they say, “That isn’t worth the paper that it’s written on.”

That is the case for fake, or counterfeit, paper money that has been circulated in Ronan during the last month or so.

“People have been passing ‘prop money,’” Ronan Chief of Police Ken Weaver told the Lake County Leader on Tuesday.

According to Weaver, some bills say, “For Motion Picture Use Only,” and others are stamped with “Warn This Not Real Money Is Copy Money.”

The fake currency ranges in denomination from 5-dollar to 100-dollar bills.

“You can go to the Internet and buy a stack of 100-dollar bills for less than 20 bucks,” Weaver said.

Merchants in Ronan and elsewere in Lake County should be on the lookout for fake money being passed as legal tender.

“They should take the time to look at the money that they’re taking in and inspect it,” Weaver said. “It says right on there it is not real money.”

Weaver acknowledged that the fake bills are not made of the same type of paper as the real stuff.

Any merchant who has accepted fake money, or has seen someone trying to use it as legal tender, is urged to call Lake County Communications, based at the Lake County Courthouse in Polson, at 883-7301.