UHP traffic stop reveals bundle of fake $100 bills

Photo: Utah Highway Patrol
JUAB COUNTY, Utah, May 19, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A traffic stop for speeding turned up a bevy of counterfeit bills Thursday on 1-15.
 
A fake $10,600 was seized in all from a total of 106 $100 bills, police said.
 
Events unfolded as a Utah Highway Patrol trooper stationed in the median on Interstate 15 clocked a northbound motorist at 91 mph in an 80 mph zone at 8:26 a.m. Thursday morning. The trooper gave chase and the suspect vehicle pulled over within a mile after the officer turned on his overhead lights.
 
As he was advising the occupants of the reason for the stop, he noticed an odor of marijuana, according to charging documents from the incident filed in Juab County’s 4th District Court. The occupants denied having any marijuana, but a search ensued.
 
“A vehicle search was initiated and during the search a bundle of cash secured in a rubber band was located underneath the passenger seat,” according to a probable cause affidavit. The bills’ material was inconsistent and the serial number was repeated multiple times on the bills, according to the affidavit. 
 
The passenger in the seat under which the bills were found told the arresting officer the bills were his, given to him for a vehicle he sold.
 
The man, Nathan Charles King, 26, was booked into the Juab County Jail on suspicion of ten counts of forgery, a third-degree felony. Forgery is always a third-degree felony no matter the amount involved. The suspect could be charged with 106 counts in this case, but typically representative counts are filed, as 106 such offenses in financial crimes usually results in the same sentence as ten counts.
 
UHP’s sister agency, the State Bureau of Investigation, was contacted for further investigation.
 
 

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