A Matteson-area man was released from jail after posting 10 percent of a $7,500 bond on charges that he tried to pass counterfeit bills in Mokena and Olympia Fields, authorities said Friday.
David M. Pusateri, 37, of 284 Blackthorn St., in the Timber Ridge Mobile Home Park near Matteson, was charged with three felony counts of forgery after he allegedly tried to use counterfeit $10, $20 and $50 bills, said Lisa Las, a spokeswoman with the Will County state’s attorney’s office.
Pusateri was released Thursday night from the Will County Adult Detention Center in Joliet.
Police in the south suburban area had been on the lookout for the suspect after Mokena police issued an alert that a man had passed phony bills at a business Monday and attempted to pass bills at two other business locations Tuesday.
In the first incident, Mokena police received a report that two counterfeit $20 bills had been passed in the 9500 block of 191st Street, said Mokena Police Chief Stephen J. Pollak.
On Tuesday, at a business in the 19200 block of Wolf Road in Mokena, a clerk refused a $20 bill from a man after it was determined to be fake when checked with a counterfeit-detection pen. The man then made payment with a legal bill and left, Pollak said.
Also on Tuesday, at a store in the 19100 block of La Grange Road in Mokena, a man tried to make payment with a $50 bill that was found to be fake when ink on the bill ran after it became wet, police said.
In all three incidents, the man fit the same physical description and was later identified by all three business clerks as Pusateri, Pollak said.
After Mokena issued a warning Wednesday about the counterfeit bills, Olympia Fields police arrested Pusateri, who allegedly attempted to pass a phony $10 bill to a merchant in the 3600 block of Lincoln Highway, authorities said.
Olympia Fields police were joined in their investigation by U.S. Secret Service agents. After Pusateri allegedly made a statement, he was turned over to Mokena police.
“He told us he didn’t print the bills and got them from somebody else,” Pollak said.
“He’s not talking now,” Pollak added.
Pollak said he didn’t know how much counterfeit money Pusateri might have had but said there had been no other reports of fake money being passed from surrounding towns.
Area merchants are advised to be on the alert for counterfeit currency in case there may be other individuals attempting to pass the bills, Pollak said.
