Two men, one from Washington Parish and one from St. Tammany Parish, were arrested by the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office on January 1 for passing counterfeit money in Washington Parish.

 Booker T. Adams, 38, a resident of Martin Luther King Drive in Bogalusa, is in the Washington Parish Jail with his bond set at $22,913.   Adams is charged with Monetary Instrument Abuse (counterfeit money), two counts of Theft of Goods, and four counts of Failure to Appear on a narcotics charge and non-support charges.

Romello Phier Brown, 21, a resident of Vern Street in Covington, is in the Washington Parish Jail with his bond set at $5,000.  Brown is charged with Monetary Instrument Abuse (counterfeit money). 

The investigation by Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives began after a complaint that a male had used a counterfeit $100 bill to make a purchase at a local fireworks sales business and was driving a gold colored Nissan Murano.  Shortly afterwards, another business also reported  receiving a $100 counterfeit bill from a male fitting the same description and driving a similar vehicle. 

The break in the case came when a patrol deputy spotted the suspect’s vehicle at a local business.  He stopped the vehicle and notified detectives who responded to the scene.  The driver was identified by witnesses as the one who had passed the counterfeit bills. 

Romello Phier Brown, the driver, and Booker T. Washington, his passenger, each had counterfeit money in their possession at the time of the arrest amounting to $700.  The counterfeit money looked legitimate except that it was marked with wording “For Motion Picture Use Only.”  The investigation continues in an effort to determine the source of the counterfeit bills. 

Sheriff Randy Seal cautions parish businesses about being on the alert for counterfeit money.  “Any business receiving bills from a customer should always examine both the front and the back of the bills.  In this case, both the front and back of the bills was clearly marked to indicate that the bill was not United States currency.  I applaud our detective and patrol divisions for solving this case and making these arrests so quickly.”