LAWTON Okla_ A court
affidavit is revealing more details involving last Friday's counterfeiting ring
bust in Lawton.
Court documents
show Jose Gonzales and Pamela Porter were the two suspects authorities arrested
when secret service agents raided a mobile home at 28th and "J". The
home belongs to porter. Both are being charged with possession of counterfeit
cash.
Records show
authorities were first alerted to the counterfeit scheme in Norman last June. In December, authorities
discovered a link to Lawton.
The affidavit links the pair to another man and woman arrested in Lawton January 8th.
They all had
been under surveillance in Norman
for passing counterfeit bills.
Pamela porter's
boyfriend Kevin Shilling quickly shut the door when our 7News crew showed up to
talk to him, but then he cracked the door to say something about his
girlfriend's involvement in the counterfeit money scheme.
"I know
that she got in a bad situation that's not as big as what they thought,"
Shilling said. "She was only involved a little bit. She just got caught at the
wrong time."
Court documents
show she was able to fill her bank account with over $10,000, in spite of being
unemployed for over two years.
The lead
investigator in the case was unable to comment on exactly what authorities
found in Porter's house. According to the affidavit, authorities seized $3,000
of counterfeit cash found in Porter's purse inside of the house. They also
uncovered tools to manufacture the illegal tender.
Court documents
show police also found a printer, some cleaning solution, and 16 bills in the
process of being washed and manufactured. Matthew Alvoid lives across the
street and was at home when the bust went down.
"You hear
about it, but you never think it would be that close to home," Alvoid said. "You
hear about stuff on TV. You know it happens some places, but never like right
here in Lawton."
Erin Williams
also lives across the street. She said she's glad authorities made the stop on
her neighbor's operation.
"It's bad,"
Williams said. "That's money out of people's pockets. They wonder why the
economy is as bad as it is."
The secret
service is still following leads with the case and say there will be more
arrests.
