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Westport Police say they responded to the West Elm store (35 Main Street) on a report of a customer attempting to make an $8.00 purchase with what was suspected to be a $100 bill on Wednesday, Oct. 9 around 7 p.m.
Staff members stated that when the customer was told that the bill did not look real, he responded by paying for the item with a $10 bill and did not ask for the $100 bill back, which raised suspicion, police say.
Further investigation revealed that the bill was missing several key identifiers and was determined to be counterfeit, according to police.
The customer, identified as Alex Burnett-Deroche, was also found to be in possession of two credit cards determined through investigation to be forged, police say.
It was discovered through the use of a credit card reading device that the account numbers programmed on each of the two cards’ magnetic strips were associated with two credit accounts previously reported as stolen in March of 2018, according to police.
Burnett-Deroche was arrested and charged with first-degree forgery, two counts of third-degree identity theft and sixth-degree criminal attempt to commit larceny. He was unable to post a $5,000 bond and was arraigned at Norwalk Superior Court on Thursday, Oct. 10.
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