CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The 39-year-old staffer in U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty's office pleaded not guilty Tuesday tousing fake $100 bills at Sunday's Cleveland Browns game.
Veronica Brownlee was arrested at FirstEnergy StadiumSunday after police said she and Arion Robinson, 39, bought small items - mostly from a first-level concession stand - using counterfeit $100 bills, hoping to get real money back in change.
A concession stand worker noticed a $100 bill Robinson used was fake and told an officer working security, according to a police report. Officers stopped Robinson and Brownlee, and during a search they found four counterfeit $100 bills inside Brownlee's shirt and a ripped one in her sock. She later said she tried to destroy the money because she was scared, according to the report.
Robinson had one fake bill, according to the report.
Brownlee told police the money belonged to Robinson. She said she got to the game early and was by herself on the fifth level before Robinson got to the stadium. When he showed up, the two met at the first level.
When they saw police coming, Brownlee said Robinson handed her a wad of money and told her to put it in her shirt because they couldn't search her, according to the report.
Robinson said the money was Brownlee's and they divided some of it between them. He said he was giving it back to her when police came.
A concessions employee gave police five bills they had received that had the same serial number as the bills they took from Brownlee. One of them was used on the fifth level, and the rest were from the first level, the report said.
Police at the jail found ripped pieces of two more fake $100 bills in Brownlee's coat pocket, according to the report. Several of the bills had the same serial number.
Between the two of them, Brownlee and Robinson had $999 in legitimate money, including $660 in $20 bills, which police said was evidence they continued using fake $100 bills to make small purchases to get change, according to the report.
Prosecutors charged each of them with one count of criminal simulation, a misdemeanor in Ohio.
Brownlee was hired by Beatty, a Columbus-area Democrat, in February 2013 as a casework manager. Beatty spokesman Galen Alexander said Brownlee matched constituents needing services to the correct federal agency.
Through a spokesman Monday, Beatty said her office is awaiting more information about Brownlee's case before addressing the situation.
"As the judicial process moves forward, I want to be crystal clear that there is no tolerance for violating the law in my office," Beatty said.
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Marilyn Cassidy set bond for Brownlee and Robinson, both of Columbus and both with no prior criminal history, at $1,000, meaning they'll each have to pay $154 to be released.
"Don't accept any $100 bills," Cassidy said to her bailiff.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/11/congressional_aide_accused_of.html
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