By Haylee Gardner
InkFreeNews

Matthew Lee Roberson

AKRON — A Pierceton man was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money he made to purchase a vehicle.

Matthew Lee Roberson, 40, 9857 E. Adams Road, Pierceton, is charged with impairment of identification, a class A misdemeanor; and theft of a motor vehicle and counterfeiting, both level 6 felonies.

On May 3, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to Tippecanoe Valley High School about a theft of a vehicle. Officers spoke with the vehicle’s owner, who stated that they met with a man who handed him an envelope that contained $5,500 cash for the vehicle. It wasn’t until the next day when the owner opened the envelope they discovered the money was counterfeit.

According to court documents, an individual advised that the identification number had been changed on the vehicle, and there was a fake registration plate that was attached. The person also advised that the vehicle was at the Whitley County Jail.

On June 24, officers conducted surveillance on the vehicle, saw Roberson and a woman entering the vehicle, and drive it away.

On June 26, officers located the vehicle with the fake registration sitting in a driveway. After obtaining a search warrant for the vehicle, officers discovered that the VIN on the door panel had been removed and the VIN under the front windshield had been changed. Officers also found $1,120 in counterfeit bills that matched the bills given to the original owner of the vehicle.

On July 1, investigators went to the Kosciusko County Jail to speak with a man, who said Roberson told him he did some work for a guy and was paid with bad bills. Roberson gave around $300 to the man, who attempted to use them at the Dollar General in Pierceton, where he learned they were counterfeit. The man claimed that Roberson came to collect all the counterfeit money after he learned the truck had been reported as stolen, and Roberson told the man that he purchased the truck with the counterfeit money.

On July 9, NET 43 officers and Whitley County Sheriff’s Department officers served a search warrant at Roberson’s location in Larwill. During the search, officers found paraphernalia to help Roberson make the fake money.

Roberson has already been arrested and released on bond.

Roberson also has a warrant in Whitley County for theft of property between $750 and $50,000, a level 6 felony.