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Provo Police warn of counterfeit bills after suspect arrested for second time

Posted at 3:20 PM, Jan 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-08 17:22:31-05

PROVO, Utah – The Provo Police Department is warning the public about the possible circulation of counterfeit bills, after a local man was arrested for forgery.

Jack Daniels Levitski, 33, was arrested on Jan. 4 for possession forgery writing/device, forgery, and unlawful acquisition/possess/transfer-card charges.

According to a probable cause statement released by the Utah County Sheriff, a search warrant was executed on Levitski’s home at 1675 N 200 W in Provo.  Upon entering the residence, officers located, “a small plastic 20 fl oz mountain dew bottle containing a liquid and several bills of US currency inside.”  Police stated that Levitski was allegedly “washing” currency, a method of counterfeiting where lower bills are made into a larger denominations, such as $50 or $100.

Levitski reportedly admitted to police that he had the intent of counterfeiting the value of U.S. currency.

This was not the first time Levitski was arrested for counterfeiting money. In Nov. of 2017, he was arrested for one count of forgery, two counts of possess forgery writing/device, one count of obstruction of justice, as well as several drug charges.

Police said in a statement that on Nov. 22, 2017, officers responded to calls of a male, who used a fraudulent bill at a store in American Fork. The male was identified as Levitski, who was found in a nearby hotel/motel room. Officers searched the room, where they found “multiple illegal items,” including images found on 100 dollar bills, printer paper, ink cartridges, blanks checks and a check belonging to another person.

Levitski informed officers during this arrest that he had used to printer to counterfeit cash, but it was, “of poor quality.”

According to the police officer who wrote a probable cause statement for the Nov. 2017 arrest, “Levitski informed me he did use a $100 he believed may be fraudulent, but he thought the worker would have informed him if it was fake.”

In a Facebook post made by the Provo Police Department, the “pen” test to detect counterfeit bills would not detect the money Levitski was producing, because he was altering real currency of a lesser value. Police asked the public to contact detectives at 801-852-6255 if they believe they may have received the counterfeit bills.

According to Sergeant Nisha King of the Provo Police Department, it was unclear how many bills may be in circulation that Levitski produced. She warned for people to remain vigilant, and contact police, especially if they believe to have received a counterfeit $50 or $100 bill.