Since it opened in 1954, Esquire Liquors, a family-owned liquor store on West Broadway Street in Union Bridge, had only seen a single counterfeit bill.
"It was a few years ago, but this time when they came in, it looked more black and white and it was smoother paper," said Kathy Kreimer, the store's owner.
Imagine Kreimer's surprise when her business was flooded with bogus bills last week---five of them in just 48 hours.
"You expect it on a twenty or a hundred, but not on a five," Kreimer said.
Detectives didn't have to wait for long to identify 29-year old Blake Ryan Evans as a suspect.
"The subject returned and attempted to pass additional counterfeit currency at which time detectives were able to apprehend him, interview him (and) take him into custody," said Cpl. Jon Light of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office.
In fact, it appears Evans was so confident in his fake bills that he returned three days in a row to pass them here picking up small bottles of Kentucky Gentleman whiskey and Smirnoff vodka in addition to a real buck in change just moments before detectives arrested him.
It turns out Evans lived a few blocks away and according to charging documents, investigators seized his computer, a printer, an Exacto knife and several scraps of paper containing an eerily familiar green ink with some dollar-sized chunks cut out of them sealing the case against him.
It proved to be a series of serious crimes with little liquid reward to show for it.
"I hope nobody ever does it,” Kreimer said. “It's such a shame. It ruins their life."
Police say Evans also used fake bills at a second liquor store a few blocks away.
He now faces a half dozen charges including manufacturing counterfeit currency, and that count alone, if convicted, carries up to 10 years behind bars.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Detective Corporal Dustin Boone at 410-386-2930, or the or the Anonymous TIPS Hotline at 1-888-399-TIPP.
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