Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Four New York Men Charged in Fake Cash Return Scheme Across 16 Counties

Pennsylvania's attorney general has charged four New York men in a retail scheme that, prosecutors say, turned counterfeit bills into real cash at stores across 16 counties, including Allegheny County, home to Pittsburgh. Attorney General Dave Sunday announced the charges on Thursday, November 5, through his Organized Retail Crime Unit. Fitzroy James, Fabian Coke, Gabriel Young and Christopher Nicholas are each charged with felony counts of organized retail theft, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, conspiracy and related offenses. Efforts to take the men into custody are ongoing, the attorney general's office said.

How the scheme worked, according to prosecutors

The method was simple on paper. The men paid for merchandise with counterfeit bills, then returned the merchandise to the store and received real money back, according to the attorney general. More than $20,000 in purchases or attempted purchases with fake cash were made at stores across the 16 counties. The group profited at least $12,436 from the returns, officials said. The stores targeted included Kohl's, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's and other retailers, the Lebanon Daily News reported from the attorney general's announcement.

Sunday called the conduct "organized retail theft, pure and simple" in a statement. He said his office collaborated with federal, state and local partners to track the criminal activity and filed charges that will end the conduct.

Sixteen counties, and a wider trail

In Pennsylvania, the group frequented stores in Allegheny, Berks, Blair, Bucks, Centre, Chester, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton and York counties. Allegheny County is the Pittsburgh county, and one of the local police departments in the investigation, North Fayette, is in Allegheny County. The group is also suspected in similar crimes in several other states, the attorney general said. The announcement did not name those states, and it did not give dates for individual store visits.

The investigation and what comes next

The attorney general's office worked on the investigation with the United States Secret Service, the Pennsylvania State Police, and police departments in North Fayette, Silver Spring, West Manchester and Hamden Township, as well as loss prevention professionals from the retailers named in the announcement. The cases will be prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Jenna Strausbaugh of the Organized Retail Crime Unit. The charges are allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, the attorney general's office said. Officials have not announced any arrests, and the office says the work to take the four men into custody is still going on.