Trenton police break up major counterfeiting operation; one suspect in custody

TRENTON, Georgia(WDEF) – Two Trenton Georgia police officers are recovering from injuries they sustained after they broke up a major counterfeiting operation.

It happened at a CVS store in Trenton where according to police, Cornelius Phillips, 20, of Alabama attempted to purchase an item with a $50 bill. When the clerk scanned the cash, it turned out to be counterfeit.

Trenton Police Sgt. Steve Beaudoin was dispatched to the store where he questioned Phillips who was reportedly acting suspicious during the questioning. When the officer searched Philips’s pockets, he found more counterfeit cash.

“We located $4,500 worth of counterfeit $50 bills in his pocket,” Beaudoin said.

When officers attempted to place Phillips in custody, they say he tried to run away, but he didn’t get far.

“We tackled him at the door. He got back loose again and so we tackled him again a second time in the parking lot with another officer and a bystander,”
Beaudoin said.

During the scuffle, Sgt. Beaudoin suffered injures to both his hands.  Another officer suffered an injury to his back that now requires the attention of a back specialist.

As for the Phillips, this is not his first time facing charges for counterfeit money. Back in August of last year, he was one of five people busted in a major counterfeiting operation in Madison County Alabama. According to Investigators in that case, the counterfeit operation carried into Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee.  In both that case and this one, the counterfeit cash was $50 bills.

“The counterfeit thing is getting out of hand. It’s constantly an everyday issue of retrieving counterfeit money somewhere here close to the interstate,” Beaudoin said.

Police are now looking for three more suspects who are believed to be part of the alleged counterfeiting operation. Another man and two women all got away and are believed to be back in Alabama.

According to police, minutes before the incident at CVS, Phillips and the other suspects paid for items with fake $50 bills at two other businesses across the street from the CVS.