Four suspected in East Bay counterfeit money scheme

FREMONT — Three San Jose men were among four that police arrested earlier this week for what police said was their role in passing along counterfeit money.

The three San Jose residents — ages 25, 27 and 41 — and a 33-year-old Fremont man all were arrested last Sunday on suspicion of making or issuing counterfeit money and conspiracy to do so, according to a statement from Fremont police.

The arrests all resulted from a complaint put forth by a store manager who reported two instances of people passing along the fake money at the store in the 46800 block of Warm Springs Boulevard, police said.

The manager contacted police on May 14 about 11 a.m., police said, and told them that somebody used the counterfeit bills on May 11 and on May 13. Police said the store manager discovered the money was fake after running it through a counting machine.

Surveillance video footage showed images of a suspect and a vehicle, but it took community surveillance cameras to determine the license plate number on the vehicle.

Police conducting area checks for the car located it May 19 in front of a store in the 46400 block of Mission Boulevard. Two people were in the car and were detained, police said. Two others were detained when they left the store.

Police said the latter two suspects had just passed along fake money and that they were found to be in possession of it. One also had an outstanding arrest warrant for making counterfeit currency, police said.