An incident at a convenience store in Izard County reportedly involving a customer taping a $100 bill together has led to the arrest of 35-year-old Matthew Autry on a felony charge of forgery. Autry’s address was not available on court documents.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday, an Izard county sheriff’s deputy responding to the scene where a counterfeit $100 bill was reportedly passed Oct. 5th was told a car had pulled up with three people inside.
The store owner said one of the two males came inside, bought some items and left. The male, later identified as Autry, returned to the store and asked for tape to repair a ripped bill.
The owner said she gave Autry the tape and observed him repair a $100 bill. After taping the bill, he allegedly asked the store owner to break the currency.
The owner took the bill, looked at it and immediately recognized it as a fake. She says she told Autry the bill was a fake, and he argued it was not.
The other occupants of the vehicle entered the store, asking what the problem was. The owner marked the bill as counterfeit and showed it to the other occupants.
Autry then asked for the owner to return the bill to him. She declined, saying she was notifying law enforcement, and the three left.
As the officer was reviewing security footage, the owner alerted him Autry’s vehicle had returned to the store’s parking lot. When the officer walked out, the vehicle accelerated and exited the parking lot.
When law enforcement went to Autry’s residence regarding the $100 bill, the suspect said he had brought the $100 bill in the convenience store with the sole intention of borrowing a piece of tape so he could give it as a gag gift to a family member. He also denied trying to pass the bill.
He also said several times he knew the bill was fake, as it had Chinese writing on it, and he was not stupid enough to try to pass it. His statement contradicts his side of the story that he only asked for tape to fix the bill, but also admits to handing the bill to the store owner.
Autry’s bond was set at $10,000.
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