Miami Student Charged with Using Counterfeit Money In Oxford

BY TOM LORENZINI

Miami University journalism student

As the fall semester of the school year came to an end, the Oxford Police Department raided of the home of Miami University student Nikolaus F. Lehnertz and found $640 of counterfeit money.

Lehnertz is due in Butler County Area Court I on Thursday for a hearing on the case.

Lehnertz, 22, is listed in the student directory as a political science major in his senior year at Miami University. Oxford Police charged Lahnertz with five counts of forgery, five counts of criminal simulation, one count possession of criminal tools, two of which are felonies, after detectives found counterfeit money inside his home in the 400 block of University Avenue on Dec. 15.

Police said they found 32 counterfeit $20 bills after reports of counterfeit bills had been used in Uptown Oxford at local businesses.

“We have had instances of counterfeiting in the past however we have never seen it to this magnitude before,” said Sgt. Jon Varley of the Oxford Police Department. He said businesses had reported getting these bills and Varley said he believed that Lahnertz had only been using them for a few weeks or a month.

“We received video footage of him (Lahnertz) using the money along with his vehicle,” Varley said.

Besides the counterfeit bills, the police also seized 400 pills, which police believe may be Xanax, that were found in Lahnertz’s vehicle. No charges have been filed against Lahnertz in relation to the drugs, but that could change when the analyst report comes back revealing what the pills are, Varley said.

Photos were provided by Oxford Police Department