An employee at Love’s Travel Stop in Napavine was arrested Monday for allegedly knowingly taking $100 in forged bills and making over $80 in change with real money.
Angela Marie Gonzalez, 41, of Chehalis, was booked into the Lewis County Jail just after 6:20 p.m. on March 17 after an officer with the Napavine Police Department responded to a report of theft at Love’s Travel Stop in the 1200 block of Rush Road in Napavine, according to court documents and jail records.
Gonzalez is accused of accessing another employee’s register to complete a transaction for a man who paid for a $6.22 purchase with $10 bills amounting to $100, according to court documents. Gonzalez allegedly took the bills, put them on the bottom of the stack of other $10 bills in the register, and made $88.67 in change for the customer using real money in the register.
The store manager who reported the theft “said it was obvious the money used by (the customer) and accepted by Gonzalez was fake money, noting that Gonzalez did not count the money and there would be no reason for her to accept that amount of money for that purchase,” according to court documents.
When questioned by an officer, Gonzalez allegedly “denied knowing the bills were fake,” but did identify the customer as someone she knew.
Gonzalez allegedly showed the officer her phone during the interview, “which revealed that (the customer) had called her” one to two hours prior to the transaction at Love’s Travel Stop.
“When advised she was going to be placed under arrest,” Gonzalez allegedly said (the customer) had called her “and wanted to exchange some tens” and allegedly admitted she knew the money “was fake but proceeded with the exchange anyway,” according to court documents.
Gonzales was charged Tuesday, March 18, in Lewis County Superior Court with one count each of forgery, third-degree theft and possession of meth.
Bail is set at $10,000.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, March 27.
