Police asks drug dealers hit by counterfeit scheme to call them

A counterfeit bust lands five people behind bars in Floyd County Indiana. It happened at a New Albany apartment complex in the 2700 block of Paoli Pike on July 23. Police arrested Jerry Davey and Jonathan Alan Frantz after discovering $4,500 of fake money inside their apartment.

"When we walk into a room and we see literally thousands of dollars that's printed, other dollars that are printed that are not cut out yet, the machine that's making the money and also the people that are actually right there doing it, we feel like that's a pretty significant bust," said Sergeant Jerry Goodin of the Indiana State Police Sellersburg post.

Police arrested Davey and Frantz at the scene. As officers wrapped up their investigation, Goodin described a knock on the door. The visitor, Michael Casey, was questioned by police and ultimately led officers to another unit in the same complex.

"While we did our search there, we were able to locate half a pound of marijuana, hydrocodone and ecstasy," Goodin said.

Casey and two others were arrested; 20-year-old Lindsay E. Portwood and 19-year-old Woodrow Sulikowski. Their charges included possession of marijuana and maintaining a common nuisance.

Goodin said those involved used fake cash to target high traffic businesses.

"They were going into small gas marts, grocery stores, places where they know there's a lot of people," Goodin said. "Where they can try to get in and out real quick. There's a lot of people and the cashiers are in a real hurry."

Those targeted also included drug dealers according to Goodin and he had a message for the victims.

"We have information allegedly that leads us to believe that a lot of this counterfeit money was going to buy drugs. What we are asking today is we want all the drug dealers to call us," Goodin said. "We want to get all of your information and exactly what happened there. We want to see what we can do to try and help you. Trust us. Call us."

Investigating agencies included the Floyd County Sheriff's Department, Indiana State Police, New Albany City Police Department and the United States Secret Service.

Those responsible are being held at the Floyd County Jail in New Albany awaiting their first court appearance.