A Philadelphia man was charged with forgery and theft by deception after allegedly attempting to pass fake $100 bills at several stores and restaurants on Oct. 2, according to the West Windsor Police Department.
The assistant manager of the Panera Bread restaurant at the Nassau Park Pavilion shopping center approached a police officer on patrol and reported that someone tried to buy food, using a counterfeit $100 bill.
He told the police officer that he saw the man go into the Crumbl Cookies store. The police officer went to the store and was told by an employee that a man bought some cookies and paid with a $100 bill and then went next door to the Party City store.
The police officer went to the Party City store and detained the suspect, who was allegedly trying to make a purchase with a $100 bill that was undergoing a check for authenticity, police said.
During the investigation, an employee of the Playa Bowls store also approached a police officer and reported that someone had used a fake $100 bill to buy food, police said.
Police determined that the Philadelphia man was the suspect in all of the incidents. He allegedly had additional counterfeit $100 bills in his possession, plus several hundred dollars of genuine money in smaller denominations, police said.
The man was processed and released.