Police: Man arrested after trying to pay with ‘obviously’ fake bills

Stock image | Photo by Alexan2008/iStock/Getty Images Plus, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A man was arrested in Washington City Sunday with drugs, a printer and a backpack full of bills that police said were “obviously fraudulent.”

Jackie Lee Elsbury, 39, of Murray, was arrested after police found him with multiple counterfeit bills in Washington City, Utah, May 20, 2018 | Booking photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

Jackie Lee Elsbury, 39, of Murray, allegedly was attempting to buy some merchandise at the Chevron Gas Station on Buena Vista Boulevard with a $50 bill that was believed to be fake Sunday afternoon, said Washington City Police Lt. Jason Williams. The gas station clerk called police, and when police officers arrived, Elsbury was still in the parking lot inside of a vehicle, Williams said.

“During the course of the investigation, there were more counterfeit bills found on him as well as some drug paraphernalia,” Williams said.

Eight fake bills, ranging from $10 to $100 bills, were found inside a backpack inside the vehicle, according to the probable cause statement written by the responding officer. The driver of the car told police that the backpack belonged to Elsbury.

All of the bills were “obviously fraudulent” because the printing was not centered, they felt different than legitimate bills, there were no watermarks, and the colors were off, according to the probable cause statement.

“During the search of the vehicle, there was some papers and a printer found,” Williams said. “We’re not knowing if that was the exact paper or printer used, but it looked like they were in the process of printing more.”

The $50 bill that Elsbury allegedly first tried to pay with was found in a nearby garbage can where Elsbury told police he stashed it after failing to get it past the cashier, according to the probable cause statement. There was also several other counterfeit bills found in the garbage can.

Police also found a glass pipe on Elsbury, as well as a glass container containing 5 grams of a white substance believed to be methamphetamine in his backpack, according to the probable cause statement.

Elsbury was arrested without incident and taken to the Purgatory Correctional Facility, where he was charged with eight second-degree felony counts of forgery, one count of possession of  methamphetamine, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. Bond was set at $25,000, and at the time of this report, Elsbury remains in custody.

This isn’t the first time Elsbury was charged with forgery charges; according to court documents in Utah, Elsbury was slapped with forgery charges in February 2003, and then again in December of the same year. He also has a long history of drug and theft charges in Utah.

This report is based on statements from police and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

Ed. note: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the day Elsbury was arrested.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter:  @STGnews | @SpencerRicks

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

4 Comments

  • Carpe Diem May 21, 2018 at 7:53 pm

    Time out in the pen is due.

  • Striker4 May 22, 2018 at 5:50 am

    only the government is allowed use fake money

  • comments May 22, 2018 at 10:32 am

    gotta invest in a better printer?

  • Amanda September 15, 2018 at 12:39 pm

    My Sister is now dating this guy. ☹️ I’m a little worried because He just got through volunteering to be a couch for a youth tag football team. If he truly changing his life around all power to him. It’s going to take a lot of time for me to give him a chance.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.