Counterfeit money seen at 3 businesses

Two McDonald’s restaurants and a 7-Eleven in Bangor reported that someone tried to pass off fake money earlier this week.

The night manager at the 7-Eleven on Broadway contacted Bangor police at 1:10 a.m. Wednesday and reported that a man in his late teens or early 20s tried to pay with a counterfeit $10 bill. The manager recognized the money as counterfeit, kept it, and asked for the man’s name. The manager also took down the license plate of the vehicle in which the man left the premises.

The night manager said the man didn’t purchase anything.

Down the street at McDonald’s, a manager reported that on Tuesday a man in his early 20s tried to pay with a counterfeit $10 bill. The manager confronted the man about it, and the customer said he had obtained the counterfeit bill from Shop ‘n Save. He paid for the meal with other money.

An apparent counterfeit bill slipped through at the Union Street McDonald’s where a manager reported Wednesday morning that the night before an employee had accepted it as payment.

Bangor police Lt. Peter Arno said that from a distance, the bills look real, but upon closer inspection the bills lack the color and paper texture of real money. In addition, absent from the phony bills are the security strips embedded in real U.S. currency.

Bangor police arrested Christopher Thomas, 22, after a fight broke out between him and his girlfriend while they were sitting inside a car having lunch Thursday afternoon.

Thomas faces a charge of domestic assault and is prohibited from contacting his 23-year-old girlfriend or returning to the apartment they share on Pier Street, according to a police report.

The incident took place outside the Bed, Bath and Beyond store on Bangor Mall Boulevard about 12:20 p.m. and was witnessed by two people. A woman told Officer Tim Cotton that she heard them yelling back and forth and saw Thomas grab the woman’s hair and pull it forcibly. The other witness said he thought Thomas may have hit the woman as he saw her head jolt back as if she had been hit.

Thomas, who had scratches on his face, said that during the argument he had punched his girlfriend’s leg and later admitted that he may have grabbed her head in something like a headlock in order to protect himself.

Thomas’ girlfriend said he had hit her quite hard in the leg and that Thomas may have grabbed her head. She said she fought back and may have scratched his face. Cotton noticed the woman had a small amount of blood on her lower lip, but she denied that Thomas hit her in the face.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Doug Kesseli