Tulsa Deputies Arrest Two Men After Finding Counterfeit Money In Car

Two Tulsa men are in jail after a counterfeiting operation was stopped in Tulsa after what would have been just a traffic stop. Sheriff's deputies found two men with warrants and said they had counterfeit currency and the tools to make money in their car.

The investigation started just after midnight, and before daylight deputies were out with the Secret Service searching a hotel room for more fake money.

Major Tom Huckeby, with the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, said, "Numerous, hundreds of Visa pre-paid cards and what we believe is that they were making this money and going out to buy the visa cards as a way to wash that dirty money."

Sheriff's deputies found plenty of counterfeit bills, both ready to spend and in whole sheets, but that was incidental to the case, because investigators believe most of the money was immediately put into circulation $10 or $20 at the time.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office said a deputy stopped a Lexus sedan in the 7300 block of East Admiral at about 12:30 a.m.

According to his report, the car had an expired license tag. He ran a records check on the driver, Robert Newsom, 28, and his passenger Dustin Hinton, 22.

According to jail documents, both men had outstanding warrants; Newsom out of Oklahoma County and Hinton out of Rogers County. Newsom was wanted on a charge of obtaining money by false pretenses earlier this year and Hinton for a failure to pay a fine for a conviction on possession of a controlled substance in 2012. 

They were arrested before deputy Mike Lahita found a suitcase in their car. The suitcase contained numerous counterfeit bills, five printer sheets of counterfeit 10- and 20-dollar bills, a printer, an LED light pad and paper cutters.

There were only 37 fake bills in the car but deputies believe most of the manufactured money had already been spent.

Both men had been interviewed by police, but not arrested, when counterfeit money was used at a CVS pharmacy. The store is next door to the motel where the two men were staying and where the Secret Service found another color printer.

The bills looked realistic, but the paper was slightly different and deputies with a trained eye could tell the difference.

"On that edge, the water marks, look at the eagle and shield, look at the original, it's all muddled up, it's gray not shiny," said Sergeant Eric Kitch with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.

With the arrest of Newsom and Hinton deputies believe they've stopped some counterfeiting, but said there's more of it going on in Tulsa County.

Deputies advise people to look at the money in your pocket and if it feels funny or doesn't look right it might be fake, but a bank, the police or a well-trained store clerk can tell you for sure.

Deputies booked Newsom and Hinton into the Tulsa County jail on 37 complaints each of possession of counterfeit currency.

Jail records show both Newsom and Hinton have a court appearance set for July 23, 2014.