POLICE BLOTTER: Man allegedly passes counterfit bills and a woman charged with theft

A man was arrested after he tried to pass a counterfeit $50 bill at a local nightspot, lawmen say. On June 26 an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy went to Coyote Ugly on Harbor Boulevard to check out the suspicious bill. He was told that an Indiana man had entered the nightspot and paid for two $5 covers with a $50 bill. The doorman noticed several discrepancies in the bill: the coloring, the texture of the paper, the absence of watermarks, and the lack of a security strip. The deputy confirmed the discrepancies. The man, 42-year-old Jason Marion Chapman of Washington, Ind., said he knew the bill was counterfeit. He said it was given to him as payment for a job he did in Indiana. When lawmen searched Chapman they found an additional $1,500 in $100 and $50 bills. He was charged with passing a forged instrument. His plea date is Aug. 13.  

Video footage shows a woman putting a Bluetooth speaker in her purse and walking out of an electronics store, an arrest report indicates. On June 19 an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputy went to the Radio Shack at 14091 Emerald Coast Parkway to investigate an alleged shoplifting incident.  An employee said another associate was speaking to a woman about a Beats Pill wireless speaker, and when he and the other associate had their backs turned, the woman slipped the speaker into her purse and left the store. When they realized it was missing, they reviewed video surveillance footage and saw the woman put in her purse. The woman admitted she put the speaker in her purse. When asked for a receipt, she could produce only a receipt for a cell phone she’d bought. The speaker was worth $199.99. The woman, a 48-year-old resident of Destin, was charged petty larceny. Her court date is July 9.