4 Arrested in Framingham On Counterfeiting Charges

Police say four New York City residents have been arrested for allegedly using fake $100 bills to make minor purchases at Massachusetts stores so they could get real currency as change.

Framingham police arrested Troy Jamel Griffith, Elijah Jones, and Elaine Winchester, all 22, and a 17-year-old girl on Friday at a pharmacy after employees recognized a phony bill.

The suspects, of The Bronx, N.Y., were in court Monday.

Prosecutors say they recovered several thousand dollars in genuine money as well as some fake bills, which all had the same serial number.

The MetroWest Daily News reports that lawyers for the suspects denied their clients were involved. A judge ordered them held on bail ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 on charges of possession of counterfeit money and uttering counterfeit money.

[Associated Press]