Joliet Counterfeit Cash: Defendant May Lose Chevy Trailblazer

JOLIET, IL — The Will County State's Attorney's Office has asked a judge to declare a 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer as well as an iPhone X and $599 confiscated from one of the criminal defendants as forfeited assets for the police.

The hearing on the civil forfeiture is set for Feb. 10 at the Will County Courthouse.

On Dec. 9, Joliet Police Officer Pete Ranstead was sent to the Menards on West Jefferson Street for a call involving people trying to pass counterfeit cash to the store employees. The officer learned the two suspects fled in a black Chevy with temporary license plates, court records show.

Police stopped the pair at the Delta Sonic in the parking lot.

The driver, Demetri Ates, told the officer he did not have a driver's license, the forfeiture states.

After a second Joliet officer arrived, Ranstead determined the pair matched the suspect description from the counterfeit cash crime at Menards, court records show.

Ates and his 17-year-old passenger denied being at the Jefferson Street Menards, but during a pat down search, Joliet police found several fake hundred bills inside the pants of the 17-year-old, the forfeiture states.

Their Chevy Trailblazer also contained two plastic baggies of marijuana, four more counterfeit $100 bills and a store receipt from Joliet's Advanced Auto parts on East Cass Street for a purchase of $6.99 showing that $100 cash was given, court records show.

One of the Menards employees positively identified Ates and the 17-year-old as being the two who tried to pass off the counterfeit cash at Menards, the forfeiture complaint states.

Later that day, Joliet police confirmed that the Advanced Auto store in the 400 block of East Cass Street did have a counterfeit $100 bill in its possession.

Both Ates and the 17-year-old refused to speak with Joliet police in connection with their arrests, the court documents show.

Now, the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow has asked a judge to declare the Chevy Trailblazer, the $599 and the iPhone X as forfeited assets for the police because "the counterfeit United States currency is criminally derived property from felony violations of Illinois law including forgery, theft, theft by deception and burglary."

To read Joliet Patch's original article about the counterfeit cash crime go here.