Counterfeiting Couple Spread Bogus Bills in Wyckoff, Cops Say

A Paterson man and woman were arrested Sunday on charges they used thousands of dollars worth of homemade money to bilk businesses across New Jersey—including some in Wyckoff, police said.

Reports from local stores involving counterfeit payments, including one at the Walgreens on Wyckoff Avenue in which a woman fled the store when a clerk suspected she was using counterfeit money, led officials to begin an investigation several weeks ago, Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said.  

The Cedar Hill Avenue Walgreens Saturday reported to police that additional counterfeit bills were found in its cash registers, Fox said.

Wyckoff and Midland Park police examined surveillance footage from those stores, as well as others in the two towns that reported finding counterfeit money Sunday, Fox said.

Cops used the footage to identify Christine Alvino, 29, and Joseph Nunally, 31, both of Paterson, Fox said.

Officers from Wyckoff, Midland Park, Paterson and the Secret Service searched the couple's Paterson apartment and found thousands of dollars in counterfeit bills, counterfeiting equipment, heroin, hypodermic needles, and gift cards that cops believe were purchased with the bogus cash, Fox said.

Alvino and and Nunally were both charged with counterfeiting US currency, producing forged documents and theft, and were sent to Bergen County Jail on $57,500 bail, Fox said.

Police said the investigation is still ongoing, and more charges might be filed against the duo.