South Pasadena: Man Buys Girl Scout Cookies With Bogus $100 Bill, Steals The Change
A South Pasadena, California, man stole $85 cash and $15 worth of cookies from a group of Girl Scouts by paying for the delicious cookies with a fake $100 bill and making off with the change, KABC is reporting.
Police are looking for the unidentified suspect, who was caught on surveillance camera leaving the Von’s Supermarket where the Girl Scouts had set up camp.
Police say the suspect had tried to use the bogus $100 bill at the supermarket, but was turned away when an employee noticed it was counterfeit. After leaving the retailer, the scofflaw apparently figured that adolescent girls would be less likely to notice funny money than a trained retail employee, and moved his scam to the Girl Scout Cookie booth.
South Pasadena Police Officer Robert Bartl explained what happened next, via KTRK.
“[The suspect] purchased three boxes of Girl Scout cookies with this fake $100 dollar bill. And left with $85 dollars in change of real money and basically ripping off the Girl Scouts.”
It wasn’t until an adult Girl Scout leader was sorting the money some time later that the bogus Benjamin got noticed. The adult leader gave to counterfeit bill to the police, who then put two and two together and realized that the same man who tried to pass the fake bill at Von’s was the same man who conned the Girl Scouts.
“How unfortunate that is and to think someone would stoop that low. He did and so it would be nice for the public to take a look at him.”
Sadly, this is not the first crime against Girl Scouts and their cookies this cookie season. Late last month, according to this Inquisitr report, a drug addict strong-armed a cash box containing several hundred dollars from a group of Scouts selling cookies.
Fortunately, Von’s wanted to do right by the Girl Scouts who were conned at their store. Company spokesperson Carlos Illingworth issued the following statement.
“As proud supporters of the Girl Scouts, we were disappointed to learn that someone would take advantage of these girls that are the future leaders of our community. We will be making a $1,000 donation to help the girls recoup the funds that they lost and support the important work of the Girl Scouts across greater Los Angeles.”
Pasadena police are asking anyone with information about the Girl Scout Cookie bandit to call their tip line.
[Images courtesy of: Getty Images/Paul Morigi, CBS Los Angeles]
