Press Release
Contact: Lt. Neil Pearson
(530) 383-9550
Warrant Arrest Leads to Discovery of Counterfeiting Ring
For Immediate Release
September 9, 2016 09:00 AM
On Thursday, September 8th 2016 a total of five people were arrested at the Motel 6 in Williams for felony counterfeiting and criminal conspiracy charges. The arrests were the result of the Williams Police Department and Colusa County Sheriff’s Department serving a misdemeanor arrest warrant on Fidel Chavez at room 209. During Chavez’s arrest the officers came across evidence of a small counterfeiting operation and other persons in the room. Upon discovering the counterfeiting operation officers secured the room, and sought assistance from members of the Colusa County Narcotics Enforcement Team (COCONET) and Colusa County District Attorney’s office in obtaining search warrants, subsequently leading to the arrests.
At least 50 “washed” one dollar bills and 50 printed one-hundred dollar bills were seized under the search warrant along with (3) laptop computers, (2) computer printers, (1) computer scanner, chemicals and supplies used for washing the bills, and several items of drug paraphernalia.
The persons arrested were Fidel Chavez age 22 from Colusa, William Charles Govan age 29 from Sacramento, Allen Carruth age 39 from Sacramento, Janice Bongolan Macasio age 37 from Antelope, and Cassandra Marie Jeffords age 31 from Yuba City also known to frequent Colusa County. All were booked on felony charges of possessing forged notes, making/passing fictitious notes, and criminal conspiracy. Chavez was additionally booked on the misdemeanor arrest warrant related to a failure to appear in court on exhibiting a weapon and a battery charge. Govan was additionally charged with misdemeanor possession of a small amount of suspected methamphetamine.
At the time of this press release all but Carruth and Jeffords remain in custody. Carruth was released on $10,000 bail early the following morning while Jeffords was released on her own recognizance due to medical/housing issues.
The matter is still under investigation at this time.