Man arrested for paying with 2$ bills.

[Goonie]

A tale of customer service, justice and currency as funny as a $2 bill
Michael Olesker



March 8, 2005

PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.

For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

"Humiliating," the 57-year old Bolesta was saying now. "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole -- and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

What we have here, besides humiliation, is a sense of caution resulting in screw-ups all around.

"When I bought the stereo player," Bolesta explains, "the technician said it'd fit perfectly into my son's dashboard. But it didn't. So they called back and said they had another model that would fit perfectly, and it was cheaper. We got a $67 refund, which was fine. As long as it fit, that's all.

"So we go back and pay for it, and they tell us to go around front with our receipt and pick up the difference in the cost. I ask about installation charges. They said, 'No installation charge, because of the mix-up. Our mistake, no charge.' Swell.

"But then, the next day, I get a call at home. They're telling me, 'If you don't come in and pay the installation fee, we're calling the police.' Jeez, where did we go from them admitting a mistake to suddenly calling the police? So I say, 'Fine, I'll be in tomorrow.' But, overnight, I'm starting to steam a little. It's not the money -- it's the threat. So I thought, I'll count out a few $2 bills."

He has lots and lots of them.

With his Capital City Student Tours, he arranges class trips for school kids around the country traveling to large East Coast cities, including Baltimore. He's been doing this for the last 18 years. He makes all the arrangements: hotels, meals, entertainment. And it's part of his schtick that, when Bolesta hands out meal money to students, he does it in $2 bills, which he picks up from his regular bank, Sun Trust.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

At Best Buy, they may have perceived the protest -- but did not sense the comic aspect of 57 $2 bills.

"I'm just here to pay the bill," Bolesta says he told a cashier. "She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money. Like she's doing me a favor."

He remembers the cashier marking each bill with a pen. Then other store personnel began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

"I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank,'" Bolesta says. "I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was then taken to the county police lockup in Cockeysville, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called in.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

The other day, one of Bolesta's sons needed a few bucks. Bolesta pulled out his wallet and "whipped out a couple of $2 bills. But my son turned away. He said he doesn't want 'em any more."

He's seen where such money can lead.

Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun

My favourite part is the line about "the post 9/11 world." Haha.

 

[Bluemofia]

This is the dumbest thing I ever heard. Getting arrested for trying to pay for something? Seriously, when did the US government get so paranoid over small things and ignore bigger problems, like lack of security at airports?

 

[Yom]

That's crazy. I would be pissed off.

 

[Perfection]

This is the dumbest thing I ever heard. Getting arrested for trying to pay for something? Seriously, when did the US government get so paranoid over small things and ignore bigger problems, like lack of security at airports?

Well, to be fair, counterfieting is a pretty high crime and something we should try to prevent

Of course, this instance is completely stupid.

 

[wit>trope]

O my gosh!

He should sue. Sue Best Buy and the police, whoever was involved in this absurd unlawful imprisonment/arrest. I believe one can sue for unlawful imprisonment/arrest under common law. He should get a million dollars.

 

[wit>trope]

Well, to be fair, counterfieting is a pretty high crime and something we should try to prevent

Of course, this instance is completely stupid.

But if you were counterfieting would you do it with 2 dollar bills? Not very efficient. The Best Buy manager was obviously a moron and the police were morons too.

 

[Zarn]

The idiots at the store probably thought there was no such thing as a two dollar bill. Even if they found out that $2 bills existed afterwords, they might remain suspicious. The situation is still not normal to them as he paid with many 2 dollar bills (which is a little rude), and also many people remain suspicious once they become suspicious (even if proven wrong).

 

[Nobody]

and osama is still on the loose

 

[general_kill]

O my gosh!

He should sue. Sue Best Buy and the police, whoever was involved in this absurd unlawful imprisonment/arrest. I believe one can sue for unlawful imprisonment/arrest under common law. He should get a million dollars.

cierdan,about suing the "police" aka the city, thinking like that takes money away from schools, police and fire station, hospitals, elderly homes, and just about everything that requires public funding.

 

[Shadylookin]

I would sue and request payment in $2 bills

 

[Perfection]

But if you were counterfieting would you do it with 2 dollar bills? Not very efficient.

I've heard of people try to pass off bills of nonexistant denomination, as well as fake one dollar bills. You never know what to expect

The Best Buy manager was obviously a moron and the police were morons too.

Maybe not morons, but definitly ignorant.

 

[wilbill]

"It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

And when did Homeland Security raise the terror alert level to "Red" because Al Quaeda cells were buying car stereos with $2 bills? Jeez.

 

[snipelfritz]

He's seen where such money can lead.

[sarcasm=a lot]Its sad days to see people taking there lives down such paths of crime and disregard for the law and their country.[/sarcasm]
I should pay for everything in one dollar bills from now on. See what they do about it.

On a related note, my randomized playlist just switched to "Money" by Pink Floyd.

 

[Ethics]

O my gosh!

He should sue. Sue Best Buy and the police, whoever was involved in this absurd unlawful imprisonment/arrest. I believe one can sue for unlawful imprisonment/arrest under common law. He should get a million dollars.

Best Buy is definately sueable. The police... well you might have an individual case on the arresting and detaining cops depending on their actions and behavior, but the way the court systems protect the police, it would probably be 10 years before you finally got shut down by the judge.

I think they did stop printing $2 bills for a while. They're extremely uncommon/rare and I know I've been told they were fake before (for the matter, I remember going bonkers seeing the $2 as a kid, it has an awesome design). Counterfeiting is one of those extremely serious offenses... that 9/11 comment was just silly... the hammer always comes down when accusations of counterfeiting is thrown around (I knew two hooligans in my junior high days that got busted for printing off bills for lunchmoney).

I think the more important aspect of this is that once again Best-Buy has shown themselves to be a crummy store as usual. I hope this guy does take them to court.

 

[amadeus]

The guy sounds like a real nut. Any other reasonable person would go in and see the manager and explain what had happened. The whole thing could have been resolved with out this guy (at least twice) making an ass out of himself.

Let's also take a look at two other things here.

First, if you were the store clerk and someone tried to pay you $114 in sequential bills that appeared to have been stained, would you have taken them? I don't think anyone here can logically say that they would.

Second, when the Secret Service comes in, that's what their original intent was! The Secret Service was an agency of the U.S. Treasury (now part of Homeland Security) started by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

The primary purpose of the agency was to prevent counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. government bonds and notes (as well as protection of the President and other high officials) so it's pretty much expected that the SS would be brought in to question tihs guy.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The guy sounds like a real nut. Any other reasonable person would go in and see the manager and explain what had happened. The whole thing could have been resolved with out this guy (at least twice) making an ass out of himself.

The guy was paying in legal tender and have every right to. Stupid store management was at fault followed by stupid police. I'd sue their sorry butts. This is a good illustration of the Republican trickle down theory. Stupidity at the top trickles down.

 

[WillJ]

"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.'

Actually, yes she does have to, considering they're legal tender.

 

[amadeus]

The guy was paying in legal tender and have every right to. Stupid store management was at fault followed by stupid police. I'd sue their sorry butts. This is a good illustration of the Republican trickle down theory. Stupidity at the top trickles down.

The numbers on the bills were sequential. You don't have to be a conterfeiting expert to know that's a red flag.

 

[amadeus]

Actually, yes she does have to, considering they're legal tender.

No, the store can refuse service to the person.

 

[eyrei]

No, the store can refuse service to the person.

They had already provided the service...he was just trying to pay the idiots.