A local man who allegedly tried to use counterfeit money to pay for his vehicle tags Monday at the state revenue office was arrested on 18 felony counts of forgery while still there.
Michael Louis Gagliardi, 53, who lists a Lakeland Drive address, was taken into custody shortly before 11 a.m. at 200 Woodbine St. on 18 counts of first-degree forgery, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $90,000 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the Arkansas State Revenue Office called Hot Springs police to report a forgery in progress and an employee told officers a man, later identified as Gagliardi, had attempted to pay for his tags with several counterfeit $20 bills.
She noted the bills showed fraudulent after using the detector pen and they also had no watermarks. Officers made contact with Gagliardi and found 18 of the bills in his possession. They noted all the bills were duplicates of the same three serial numbers, so Gagliardi was arrested.
Detective Nathan Rines interviewed Gagliardi at the police department and he reportedly stated he had received a large sum of money from a recent lawsuit and had been carrying the cash with him for the last several days. He said he was with several other people during this time and had some money stolen from him.
He claimed he did not know how he came into possession of the fraudulent bills and that he didn't know they were counterfeit until the clerk at the revenue office told him. The affidavit notes no money was lost from Monday's incident.
According to court records, Gagliardi pleaded no contest on Feb. 14 in district court to a misdemeanor charge of theft of property, amended from an original felony charge, and was sentenced to one year in jail, all suspended, and ordered to pay $730 in court costs and $1,249 in restitution to Walmart.
On June 6, 2013, Gagliardi pleaded guilty in Desha County Circuit Court to possession of meth or cocaine with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia and was sentenced to five years in prison, with all of it suspended.
Local on 10/02/2019