Man arrested, cuffed after using $2 bills
Best Buy customer on being jailed: 'At this point, I'm a mass murderer'
Posted: April 7, 2005
5:12 p.m. Eastern
A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's legitimacy and called police.
According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case.
Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole – and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."
After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest, Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.
As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident has a hearty supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the bills to students who take his tours for meal money.
"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"
Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the cashier at Best Buy Feb. 20.
"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money – like she's doing me a favor."
Bolesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"
"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."
According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called. One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.
Said Bolesta: "I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank.' I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'
"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"
Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called.
"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."
Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."
Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."
Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."
So what?? They think Bin Laden's bad boys want to destroy the American economy by flooding the nation with bogus two dollar bills?
The store clerks and the cops need their heads examined. Anybody in retail should know what constitutes 'legal tender'. Too much to ask of the young idiots these days - there's no $2 button on the POS terminals!
Location: Virginia, just outside of Washington D.C.
Posts: 3,788
I'd say he has grounds for a legitimate law suit. And as long as it's legal tender the cashier HAS to take it. I'll bet the Best Buy lawyers are already working overtime trying to figure how to handle this.
Big Dog,this is the third post in a row where you have come up with logic that seems to have been lost to the American population for a long time,congratulations!
Your knowledge obviously comes from a past era where common sense prevailed.I too can remember that period a long time ago in a galaxy far,far away!
I had a similar experience at a coffee shop the other day because the kid behind the counter didn't know what a half-dollar coin was - she asked me if I had quarters instead, I said that's all I got. Fortunately she let it go
Cashier training course 101 should define what constitutes legal tender.
And...false arrest should result in a serious penalty for those causing that action. But...Any way you cut it...lawyers will come out with most of any monetary settlement.
Rave, what can I say? I'm definitely "old school"! We were taught to actually use the gelatinous gray stuff sitting between our ears. I sometimes wonder - just what are the schools teaching our kids these days? I could make change without a terminal when I was fifteen. I know all the legal coins and paper money. When I worked at a video game arcade, and a kid came up with a handfull of $1 Silver Certificates (similar to dollar bills, but different) I knew what they were! This kid woulda been arrested by that stupid clerk!
I've gotten to where I dread going thru a burger drive-thru. Messed up orders, and they freak if you give them anything out of the ordinary. Got an order for $5.25? Try giving pimple-face a tenner and a quarter (to get a fiver back) - you can see the exact moment his brain freezes.
Got an order for $5.25? Try giving pimple-face a tenner and a quarter (to get a fiver back) - you can see the exact moment his brain freezes.
bwahaha - I've had that happen to me many times although I'm not so old myself. I patiently explain (like I would to a child): Hold up the quarter - here's 25c so now I have to pay you $5. Here's $10, can I have $5 back ?
This past Christmas some friends of my family went to Best Buy. While they were shopping they started to go down one aisle, saw that a frontloader was stocking the shelves there, turned around and went down a different aisle.
Unfortunately, the idiot driving the frontloader managed to push the stock on his side of the shelf all the way through to the other side. Among the items that fell off of a high shelf were TVs. One TV nailed the husband square on his back and shoulder, doing major damage.
Several days later one of Best Buy's attorneys called him to discuss how the legal process works, how insurance works, bla bla bla.
Our friend interrupted the guy's civics lesson with "I know. I have been a practicing attorney for over 30 years."
He said that the Best Buy lawyer got real quiet real fast.
This guy does NOT need money from Best Buy. What he wants is for Best Buy to make the environment safer. He is not the only person to have been injured this way. The irony is had he not attempted to avoid the dangerous situation, he probably would not have been injured.
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"Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash
He should take the money - maybe give it to a reputable charity if he doesn't need it. Unless it hurts them financially they're not going to make any changes.
I think the plan is: "Give me $100 million or spend $20 million to train your staff better." Have you ever seen "Fight Club" (great guy movie!)? There is a scene where Ed Norton explains his job. As long as making settlement payments are $1 cheaper than fixing the problem, that is what the business is going to do.
Perhaps he should demand that they pay him with $2 bills!
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"Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun." - Ash
