A New York man was jailed in Schuylkill County over the weekend and is now facing a felony forgery charge after allegedly trying to use counterfeit money to load a pre-paid debit card at a store here Sunday morning.
Omar Bolgrove, 27, of Jamaica, New York, was charged by State Police with felony forgery, misdemeanor theft by deception, and misdemeanor false identification to law enforcement. He was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli and is being held at Schuylkill County Prison on $75,000 bail.
Troopers say they responded to the Dollar General at Cressona Mall just before noon on Sunday after an assistant manager reported that a man asked to add funds to his Chime card. The man handed over six $20 bills and two $5 bills. The assistant manager used a detection marker on the cash and determined that all six $20 bills were phony.
The assistant manager returned the two real $5 bills, kept the fake $20 bills, and voided the transaction, state police say. When the man asked for the counterfeit cash back, the assistant manager refused, troopers said.
The man – later identified as Bolgrove – then left the store and got into a white Audi A6 sedan with a Connecticut plate, police say. A store security associate followed the man outside, took photos of the car, and saw it drive south on Route 61. Security footage captured the transaction and showed the suspect wearing a teal sweatsuit and white sneakers.
Troopers looked up the vehicle’s registration and contacted the owner, who said he had rented the car to someone through the service Turo. Using a GPS tracker built into the car, the owner informed State Police that the vehicle was located at a Home Depot in Wyomissing, Berks County.
Wyomissing Police located the Audi circling the parking lot at Home Depot and conducted a traffic stop. One of the passengers in the vehicle matched the description given of Bolgrove, police say.
Bolgrove reportedly initially identified himself as “Chase Samuels” and gave a false date of birth. After being transported to the State Police barracks in Schuylkill Haven for processing and fingerprinting, his identity was confirmed as Bolgrove. Bolgrove also had an active arrest warrant out of Luzerne County.
During questioning, Bolgrove allegedly admitted to using the counterfeit money, telling troopers he received it from a man in Connecticut whose name and contact information he did not know.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29 before Magisterial District Judge Casimir Kosciolek.
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