Police Blotter: Counterfeit Money, Home Invasion and Fraud

are warning area businesses to be on the lookout for counterfeit $20 bills after a local business received one over the weekend.

According to Police Chief Edward Harris, the was given a counterfeit $20 bill sometime between March 4 and March 6.

"The owner of the store received a notice from their bank that one of the $20 bills in their deposit was a fake," Harris said. "Because it's such a large time frame we don't know who passed the money, however chances are if they've passed one fake $20 bill they might pass more at other area businesses."

The incident remains under investigation.

Home Invasion

A home was broken into, and a number of items were stolen while the homeowners were out of town.

A home on the 6000 block of White Lake Road had a basement window smashed and several items taken, including hunting rifles and a television, sometime between the end of November and March 5.

The broken window was discovered by neighbors who in turn called police. The homeowners were contacted and will be submitting a complete list of items taken once they return home.

Harris said all of the rooms were ransacked, and the gun safe along with two gun cleaning kits had been dumped out in the garage of the home. The home was processed by detective for fingerprints, and the incident remains under investigation.

Anyone with any information is asked to call 248-698-4400.

Harris said the department does offer free house checks to residents of White Lake who are out of town. You can sign up for this service online. The owners of this home did not request a house check.

Fraud

A White Lake woman is out approximately $2,000 after attempting to buy a car on Craigslist.

Harris said the woman, on Feb. 21, contacted the seller of a vehicle listed on Craigslist. The seller was in Spain and has said they were a service-member trying to get rid of the car.

The car was allegedly supposed to be shipped from Spain to the United States so the woman could receive it. On Feb. 28 she wired $1,990 to the seller and hasn't heard from them since.

"The woman said she had seen other cars of the same year and model on Craigslist for $4,000 or more, so she thought she was getting a good deal," Harris said. "We warn people, especially in situations like this, if it seems too good to be true it usually is."

According to Harris there isn't much else the department can do, "Occasionally the FBI will step in on cases like this, but only if a substantial amount of money is involved. It is very possible that this is part of a larger scam ring and that could happen, but for now we've done all we can."