The University of Wisconsin Police Department arrested a man on three counts of passing counterfeit money and one count of disorderly conduct while armed Tuesday, according to a UWPD incident report.
The man, Ishmael D. Riley, 26, is now being held in Dane County Jail. When Riley was apprehended, UWPD found $13,000 worth of counterfeit money in his backpack, the report said.
Riley used counterfeit money on three separate occasions at Capital Cafe in Grainger Hall.
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The third incident, which occurred on Oct. 11, escalated into verbal aggression when a Capital Cafe employee addressed Riley about the counterfeit money. He then began threatening staff with scissors, the UWPD report said.
Riley attempted to make a small purchase with a one-hundred-dollar bill which the cashier immediately suspected was fake, Capital Cafe employee Katie Byers said.
After using the standard procedure to verify the bill was counterfeit, the cashier went to the back and informed the manager working at the time. Riley left when she threatened to call the police, Byers said.
“It was definitely a little bit unnerving throughout the whole thing,” Byers said. “I was a little rattled afterward.”
Riley was identified by using the security cameras in and around the building, the UWPD report said.
This is an uncommon crime for UW, according to UWPD Director of Communications Marc Lovicott.
“There isn’t a huge issue with counterfeit money on campus,” Lovicott said in an email statement to The Badger Herald. “Occasionally we will take a report of someone who attempted to use counterfeit money — and they didn’t even know it was counterfeit money. In this particular case, it was very clear this person knew what he was doing.”
Riley is not affiliated with the university and his case has been referred to the U.S. Secret Service, the UWPD report said.
