NORTHAMPTON — A New York man admitted Monday to using fake $100 bills to purchase items at multiple stores in Amherst and Hadley last year.
Justin A. Lewis, 22, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to more than a dozen charges in Hampshire Superior Court and was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay $3,395 in fines.
Lewis was originally charged with 23 counts — 14 counts of uttering a counterfeit note, five counts of larceny under $250, two counts of larceny over $250, larceny over $250 by a single scheme and attempting to commit a crime.
As part of a plea agreement, six charges of uttering a counterfeit note were dropped. Lewis declined to comment after the court hearing.
In February 2016, Lewis was in town visiting a student, Abdoulaye Sanogo, at Amherst College. During that time, Lewis used counterfeit $100 bills at the Wal-Mart and Target stores in Hadley and the CVS Pharmacy in Amherst, Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Anne Yereniuk said in court Monday.
Sanogo, of Jamaica, New York, was also charged and pleaded not guilty to two counts of uttering a counterfeit note, larceny under $250 and attempting to commit a crime. A change of plea hearing is scheduled for Sanogo on May 31.
Summarizing the details of the case, Yereniuk told the judge Lewis used the counterfeit bills to buy merchandise and then received real money in change.
When Lewis was arrested, Yereniuk said police found the purchased items as well as their receipts in a car the young men had used. Lewis has allegedly committed similar crimes in Connecticut, according to Yereniuk. She said Lewis would keep the merchandise and receipts with the intention of returning them to get more money.
The money for the $3,395 in fines Lewis was ordered to pay will come from money seized by the Amherst Police Department from Lewis and his vehicle, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.