Suspicions over the authenticity of a $50 bill led to forgery and drug possession charges for a 32-year-old Texas woman, according to a report from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. The woman was taken into custody near Chandler just after midnight on Jan. 6 and transported to a local detention facility. Her bond has been set at $4,000.
Workers at a local pizza restaurant called 911 shortly before closing after noticing an odd looking $50 dollar bill. The workers gave the responding deputy a description of both the woman who had handed them the bill and the U-Haul truck she had been driving. The deputy says that hearing this description prompted him to recall a parked U-Haul truck he had noticed while driving to the store.
The deputy soon located the truck. When he looked inside the vehicle, he says that he saw a pizza box from the restaurant and a woman behind the wheel who matched the description he had been given. He claims to have also noticed a hypodermic syringe between the vehicle’s seats. The deputy says the woman then confessed that the syringe was hers and had contained methamphetamine. She also allegedly told the deputy that her purse contained additional syringes of drugs.
An experienced criminal defense attorney would advise someone accused of committing serious drug crimes to consent to no searches and make no confessions or admission before speaking with a lawyer, even if their situation seems grim. Only prosecutors have the authority to reduce charges or penalties, but they are unlikely to do so in return for information that they already have. Admissions could also give police officers the evidence they need to conduct a search without first obtaining a search warrant.
