A Lansdale woman is facing charges after she allegedly passed off $100 worth of counterfeit $20 bills at the 7-Eleven on North Broad Street in Hatfield Township.
Police said 39-year-old Laura Fanelli entered the store during the evening on Jan. 6 and made a $220 deposit on a Vanilla Direct app on her phone via the store’s cashier. However, when the cashier attempted to place the cash into a depository safe machine, one of the $20 bills supplied by Fanelli was denied, according to charging documents.
The cashier attempted to talk to Fanelli outside, however she was already exiting the parking lot in her vehicle, police said. The cashier then recorded Fanelli’s license plate, which was used to track her down, according to the complaint.
Further investigation revealed that Fanelli supplied the cashier with six real $20 bills and five counterfeit bills, the report states.
Charges were officially filed against Fanelli on Jan. 23, including six felony counts of forgery and misdemeanor counts of theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and possessing an instrument of crime. She was arraigned on Jan. 24, and she is currently free on $5,000 unsecured bail.
Fanelli’s next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on Feb. 6 at 10:45 a.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
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