Man faces counterfeit money charges

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A man has been charged with counterfeiting charges in both federal and district court after allegedly using fake money at Grand Rapids stores.

Daquawon Desmond Haten was arraigned on one charge of possession with intent to pass counterfeit U.S. currency in federal court. He was also arraigned in the Grand Rapids 61st District Court on one charge of passing counterfeit money.

Court documents filed by a U.S. Secret Service special agent said that Haten was arrested by a Grand Rapids Police Department officer who performed a traffic stop after a gas station reported a fraud.

According to a gas station employee, the court documents said, Haten and a woman attempted to use a counterfeit $100 bill at the Shell Station on South Division Avenue on Feb. 6. The gas station employee realized the bill was fake and confronted the suspects, who then left the scene. The employee was able to get a vehicle description and provide a license plate number.

The GRPD officer noticed the vehicle described by the gas station employee -- a white Grand Am -- at the Family Dollar on South Division Avenue and saw the woman exit the store, court documents said. The officer then pulled the Grand Am over after it failed to signal while pulling back on to Division.

The officer asked Haten to step out of the vehicle, court documents said, and he originally provided the officer with a false name.

Haten allowed the officer to search him, and the officer then found $386 in legal currency and $1,620 in counterfeit money on him.

Haten was then arrested for possession of counterfeit currency.

The Secret Service agent noted in court documents that Haten kept the legal and fake money in separate pockets, which he said was a typical practice for anyone using counterfeit money to prevent the cash from getting mixed up.

The court documents said that though Haten originally provided investigators with false information, he then said that he had bought about $3,000 in fake money from a dealer called "G" in Detroit.

Haten said that he had used counterfeit bills totaling $40 at a Victoria's Secret in Woodland Mall and a fake $100 bill at the Popeye's on Division on the same day of the arrest, according to court documents. The court documents also showed that evidence -- a receipt from the Popeye's and information from the Victoria's Secret's bank -- supported those statements.

Haten was being held in the Kent County Jail on $25,000 bond, but has posted the cash or surety bond and has been released.

Haten is scheduled to be back in court for a preliminary examination on Feb. 15.