PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Federal probation officials are seeking to revoke the bail and issue an arrest warrant for a Presque Isle man accused of trying to pass counterfeit bills around the area.
Special Agent Tyler Martin of the U.S. Secret Service, which handles counterfeit cases, said he became involved after being notified by Presque Isle Police Cpl. Lucas Hafford that an individual had used a counterfeit $20 at Domino’s pizza in July 2018.
After reviewing video footage from the pizza shop, Hafford tracked down the woman who passed the bill and she told the corporal that she had received it from Derek E. Mendoza, according to an affidavit Martin filed in Bangor U.S. District Court.
The woman, who is not identified in the court documents, told police that Mendoza would supply her with $100 in bills “that he knew to be counterfeit in exchange for heroin.”
She also said that Mendoza had given her additional counterfeit money in exchange for methamphetamine. In December 2018, various other counterfeit bills were cashed around town, according to the affidavit. On Dec. 10, 2018, Mendoza allegedly attempted to pay for goods with counterfeit $50 bills at the Cigaret Shopper on Main Street in Presque Isle. The cashier identified them as counterfeit and declined to accept them, according to the affidavit.
Hafford identified Mendoza from a store security photo “due to numerous past dealings” with him “and all the recent counterfeit cases he had worked against him.”
Police arrested Mendoza on Dec. 18 on a charge of attempting to pass counterfeit obligations and securities, and the court released him under pretrial supervision with conditions.
According to the affidavit, PIPD Officer Tyler Cote investigated and reported that on Dec. 28 and Dec. 30, Mendoza engaged in shoplifting and wrote a check from an account that had been frozen or blocked at Marden’s in Presque Isle.
Police summoned him on Jan. 11, 2019, on additional charges of theft by unauthorized taking and negotiating a worthless instrument.
Under conditions of his previous release, Mendoza also was subject to random to drug testing. After one such test indicated the presence of drugs in his system, he allegedly admitted to police on Jan. 25, 2019, that he used marijuana cut with amphetamines. On Jan. 28, another drug test also came up positive for marijuana, according to the affidavit, and Mendoza then failed to report for drug testing on Feb. 11.
The U.S. Probation Office now “believes the defendant is an increased risk of flight and danger to the community.” It is seeking to revoke Mendoza’s bail and have him arrested.
