We have been discussing the over-reaction officials in past cases where police have been called to address pranks or controversies once handled internally in schools. A news story near Houston only serves to capture this absurdity. It began when Danesiah Neal, an eighth grader at Fort Bend Independent School District’s Christa McAuliffe Middle School, attempted to pay for lunch with a $2 bill given to her by her grandmother, Sharon Kay Joseph. The lunch personnel had never seen a $2 bill and the reaction is truly absurd overreaction involving banks and police.
First, the school called Joseph to say that they believed that Danesiah had passed fake money. After she said that she gave Danesiah the bill, the police traced the bill back to the convenience store where Joseph recalled receiving it. They then went to the bank for an examination of the bill. The bank of course said that the $2 bill is a $2 bill. Only then did the police return the bill. No one apologized to Danesiah, of course. It is just another day in the new criminalized environment of our schools.
Just for the record, only a moronic counterfeiter would replicate the $2 dollar bill as opposed to . . . I don’t know . . . a $50. Then there is picking one of the rarest bills around to make your windfall . . . $2 at a time.
For future reference, we have had a $2 bill since March 1862 and it was brought back into production in 1976 with the design of Thomas Jefferson on the front and John Trumbull’s depiction of the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence on the back. There are currently about 1.2 billion $2 bills in circulation.
Yet, it appears that a group of teachers, administrators, and police not only appear clueless about the existence of such bills but did not seem inclined to go on the Internet to quickly confirm the truth. Instead, a police investigation was launched and a student was accused of passing counterfeit money.
This is the Education Industry who are ignorant nannies. There was a restaurant in Wisconsin where the owner tended bar and would hand out $2 bills as change. He retired a few years ago. You used to see a lotta $2 bills @ the horse track. My old man would take his wife and 4 kids to Saratoga Springs every August. It is a very family friendly spot. If dad was hitting some winners we would get a $2 bill to spend. In the 60’s that was a big deal. The $2 bet @ the track has remained the standard for generations.
It’s Texas. ‘Nuf ced.
Let’s continue to spend more money on the military-industrial complex than the rest of the western world combined, so that we can keep costs down in the Houston school districts and pump out our model of a well-informed working class.
Go 1%ers and the patriots who protect them!
Neither the cops or the school administrators knew that $2.00 bills actually exist?………..OMG.
This “Person of Interest” was also likely added to the Texas “Fusion Center” list of terror suspects – which can be shared with federal databases and even Interpol (international police).
Will the child’s parents have to sue the state to expunge their child’s name from lifelong blacklisting by local, state, federal and international watchlists?
Seems like the Texas officials should receive all of the punitive consequences, not the innocent child.
She got off easy. A seventh grader, probably trying to pull a prank, could get put away for counterfeiting. From the article Prof. Turkey cited:
“The friend pulls out a $10 bill and his friend thinks that it’s real,” Nezami said. “So they get to the lunch line… he buys his lunch with it, takes his lunch and goes and eats it.”
After school, officials did the forgery test and realized it was a fake $10 bill, according to Nezami.
“He comes to school the next day and he gets arrested and charged with a third-degree felony.” Nezami said. “He’s in seventh grade. He doesn’t handle money that much.”
“They put him in handcuffs,” he said. “They put him in a police car, the whole bit.”
His parents even offered to pay the $10 that was owed the school.
The 13-year-old even qualifies for free lunch from the school.
He’s never been in trouble and reliably gets A’s and B’s in class.
He was charged with a felony and sent to alternative school before being found guilty of anything.
His case is still pending.
“He could face years in jail or prison,” Nezami said.”
This isn’t just a story of a school administrator and cop that are to stupid to hold their jobs. They’ve also lost any remnants of their humanity. But it becoming more and more clear unfortunately that it is what police departments are looking for: dumb robots that can follow orders with any feeling to the people they are patrolling during their tour of duty.
Because you can’t be a normal person and do this”investigation” without so much as an apology to forcing an eighth grader to feel like a criminal and starve during the school day.
I sold a car in the early to mid 90’s when I was living in Southern CA to a Mexican guy. I think I only got $1000 dollars for it. Anyway, it was a weekend and he paid me in 100’s. I had no idea that the new hundreds were coming out and half of them were this new style that looked really goofy with Benjamin’s head being huge. The guy explained to me the new bills and that he had gotten them from the bank. I was at my brothers and I told him, man, this guy is either telling the truth or these are the worst counterfeits ever. Since this was a weekend and the banks were closed, unlike the idiot teachers we have, we didn’t call the police. Instead, we called a grocery store figuring they deal with money and would know. Sure enough, the lady I talked to said, Oh, did you get the new Monopoly money? Common sense has left this country.
A great even though sad story and sign of the times.
Just today my wife was getting some cash out of her wallet before going into a store and I saw she had a $2 bill. I asked where she got it…..just curious. Couldn’t recall. I said it will be interesting to see what happens when you use it. Fortunately….a non-event….no cops or Secret Service agents called. Up here in Weed land, any money will do.
Then this story pops up.
On another front, anyone recall the time Long Beach citizenry wanted to close the shipyard? The sailors and shipyard workers were paid with $2 bills. (Norfolk did once too, I believe.)
The flood of the distinctive bill got the Chamber of Commerce type folks’ attention. Funny how the focus changed.
In texas? Wow so they aren’t over run by illegal immigrants on free lunch afterall! Making it the more laughable story….kid is one of the few no doubt who actually brings lunch money…money taker rarely sees money just types in free lunch code. Kid hands her money….shoot even if it had been a five she might call the cops….must be stolen.ha. or remember the lunch lady who just stuffed the cash in her bra?
That police department must have a lot of free time and money but not an once of common sense. It’s disgraceful.
When I get a $2 bill, I keep it. I like things that are unusual, and I don’t get a $2 bill very often. It’s amusing so many people in this story did not recognize a legitimate, ordinary, piece of paper currency. But then, I suspect most people do not know what president is on the $50 bill (Grant). You’d think who’s on either the $2 or $50 bill would be common knowledge, but many people have no idea. I did get a $3 bill one time. It had President Richard Nixon on it. Of course, it was as phony as a $3 bill.
Imbeciles
The currency in question is of the 1953 series which has a red seal on the obverse. This is of course different than the seal commonly in general circulation but having one is not evidence of the crime of forgery in any respect. The fact that the test pen indicated a possible counterfeit note does not provide reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain or arrest. The state needs to articulate more evidence of forgery in the note, such as the lack of microfibers, evidence of photocopying, and such, before it can have sufficient evidence of a counterfeit.
If this state requires an intent or knowledge element for the crime of forgery it is then necessary for the state to prove that the defendant had culpability in violation of this statute. Counterfeit currency is in the general circulation. Due to this there is a probability that a counterfeit note was unknowingly possessed by most persons and it is completely impractical to arrest every person along the chain of possession.
In this case none of those two tenets existed and I cannot see this being a question of mistake by an officer. It is his responsibility to determine if a bill is counterfeit before he can continue an investigation. Some counterfeits are of such high quality it takes an expert to determine and articulate the flaws.
Plus, who is going to counterfeit a 2 dollar bill? (Well maybe if it is one so rare in a numismatic sense) The 2 dollar bill draws attention to itself due to the novelty. The primary goal of a counterfeiter is to make a note that does not stand out and is accepted quickly. Plus, why forge a one or a two dollar bill when one can make a 20 for the same work? That is why the twenty is probably the most counterfeited and also because the 50 and the 100 draw more attention to themselves.
On balance there are methods that ordinary persons can use to fool 95% of people and some locations have true counterfeiting problems. But if the officer does not know what he is doing with regard to forgeries he should not be involved.
Those who can: do.
Those who can’t do: teach.
Those who can’t teach: teach teachers.
Went in dumb, come out dumb too.
Hustlin round Atlanta in their alligator shoes.
I once found a $2 bill in a parking lot – when I bent over to pick it up, I didn’t know what denomination it was, but I knew it was a biggie because it didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen. Oh well – beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Reblogged this on Truth Troubles: Why people hate the truths' of the real world and commented:
The ignorance of ‘the educated’ who are teaching our children is disgusting. Also even though I strongly back our honest law enforcement officers some are about as dense as VA doctors.
Really, school administrators and police unaware of US Treasury $2 bill and require a consultation with a bank. A result of a failed Texas educational system or an example of the old adage “you can’t fix stupid”?
This story just confirms my long-held suspicion–those $2.00 bills are just plain unlucky.
A few days ago, a teller at the bank tried to hand me my cash using a $2.00 bill in the mix. The moment that I saw the bill, I promptly removed it from the other currency and proceeded to ask the teller to exchange it for two $1.00 bills, instead. The teller started to laugh, as he explained that he had been trying, all day, to get rid of the bill in his cash drawer because he felt that it was unlucky. I did not hesitate to inform him that he would need to continue in his attempt to lose the bill with the next unsuspecting customer.
Excellent article, trouble is that pure ignorance of those that are ‘teaching’ our kids and of to many members of ‘law enforcement’ is literally comical, if it wasn’t so damn disgusting.
What would have happened if had paid with a $3 bill? lol