STARKE—A Tampa man was sentenced to 24 months in prison after admitting to paying for a pillow at Starke’s Bealls Outlet with a counterfeit $100 bill.
Steven Brad Powers, 36, pleaded to uttering forged bills.
According to a Florida Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement complaint, store video showed the defendant purchasing a large black décor pillow on June 20, 2022, using a counterfeit $100 bill and receiving $81.82 in change.
An investigator for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services wrote that the defendant used the same practice at multiple locations in Florida to launder counterfeit bills.
“The suspect takes low-priced products and purchases them with counterfeit currency,” wrote the investigator. “Steven Brad Powers was arrested on March 13, 2023, for an unrelated offense and was charged with being in possession of 10 counterfeit $100 notes.”
The defendant’s previous convictions include driving with a suspended or revoked license, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, resisting an officer without violence, criminal mischief, fleeing and eluding, DUI, failure to appear, and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling.
