2 Brooklyn men charged with passing bogus bills at Roslyn Heights CVS, police say

Nassau County police arrested two Brooklyn men Saturday, saying they used fake bills as payment at a CVS in Roslyn Heights.

The men, Randy Jenkins and Dave Sterling, both 29, "used counterfeit bills to make multiple purchases within the store" at 12:05 p.m. Saturday, according to a police news release.

The police were called to the drugstore and an investigation was conducted, according to a police spokesperson. The men were then identified and placed under arrest, the spokesperson said.

Jenkins was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and petit larceny. Sterling was charged with one count of first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and petit larceny.

Jenkins and Sterling were arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead where both pleaded not guilty, according to court records.

Bail for Jenkins was set at $1,500 cash, $3,000 insured bond, or $7,500 partially secured surety bond. Bail for Sterling was set at $1000 cash, $2,000 insured bond, or $5,000 partially secured surety bond.

Defense attorneys for Sterling and Jenkins did not immediately respond to messages Sunday evening seeking comments.

In April 2024, German authorities seized counterfeit U.S. bills with a face value of over $103 million, The Associated Press reported. The bills had apparently come from Turkey and were bound for the United States.

But the use of fake bills does not seem to be on the rise on Long Island. Officer Kenneth Palmieri, a police spokesperson, said the department has not seen a spike in people using forged bills in recent months.

"There's no rise in activity of this occurrence," Palmieri said. "It's not like this is a thing that's going on lately."

In 2018, Suffolk County police told Newsday they were looking for two men who had used counterfeit bills worth $700 to buy items from the Gucci shop at the Saks Fifth Avenue store at Walt Whitman Shops in Huntington Station. 

Newsday's Peter Gill contributed to this story.

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.