Man Arrested, Cuffed After Using $2 Bills
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com - 8 April 2005
A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed
and taken to jail afterclerks at a Best Buy store questioned the
currency's legitimacy and called police.
According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta
was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup
in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three
hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the
case.
Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt
like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking
on, to be cuffed to a pole - and to know you haven't done anything
wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city
police force. It was humiliating."
After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be
charged for the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received
a call from the store saying it was in fact charging him the fee.
As a means of protest, Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using
57 crisp, new $2 bills.
As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident
has a hearty supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the
bills to students who take his tours for meal money.
"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this
is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They
don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing
this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my
little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"
Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the
cashier at Best Buy Feb. 20.
"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take
these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've
tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can
sue me.' So she took the money - like she's doing me a favor."
Belesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store
employees began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these
real?"
"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal
tender."
According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one
employee noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when
the cops were called. One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran
in sequential order.
Said Bolesta: "I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got
thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem,
call the bank.' I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of
people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing
me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get
it straightened out.'
"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years.
I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I
can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American
money.'"
Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole
and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called.
"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."
Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared
the bills legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes
ink on money can smear."
Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill
Toohey told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous
in the post-9/11 world."
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