By Kathy Laird
CCN Correspondent
In what may have been one of the shortest trials in Crawford County in some time, a jury of six men and six women heard testimony against Cody Redmond, 25, of Bucyrus.
The trial began at 8:30am in the Crawford County Common Pleas Court presided over by Judge Sean Leuthold.
In what Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler described as a “simplistic case,” Redmond was accused of forgery against the Bucyrus Walmart.
According to charges, Redmond went into Bucyrus Walmart on Sept. 16 at approximately 11 p.m. and purchased a television in the electronics department. Redmond was accused of using seven counterfeit $20 bills and purchased a 32-inch television for $137.08 in the electronics department.
He was given a receipt and change. Less than 12 hours later, Redmond went back to Walmart to return the television for what Hoovler believed to be a cash refund.
Nighttime Assistant Manager, Brad Thompson caught the forgery when changing cash drawers and preparing the register for the next day’s business. Thompson testified that he felt the money and the texture wasn’t right and then checked the serial numbers on the bills and they were identical.
At that point, he made a call to the Bucyrus Police Department. Officer Jason Pennington, a three-year veteran of the force, responded to the call. Thompson pulled up the surveillance video from the electronics department and it showed Redmond handing cashier Josh Barlow the counterfeit bills.
While taking the initial report from Thompson another Walmart associate came to Thompson with another counterfeit $20 bill she found in the clothing department located next to electronics. Law enforcement officers were not able to confirm who dropped the bill due to insufficient video evidence.
A cashier told police she recognized the man who purchased the television as Cody Redmond. Using a special database at the Bucyrus Police Department, Pennington was able to print a picture of Redmond from his driver’s license and the photo matched the man on surveillance video.
In cross-examination by attorney Tom Nicholson, the manager was asked if he trained the associates who run the registers. Thompson indicated that associates are trained during orientation and then have a cashier coach who watches over their work. Thompson said typically associates learn how to handle bills and notice their texture, look closely at the bills, serial numbers and the red markers.
“If these bills fooled your cashier isn’t it possible that Mr. Redmond did not know they were counterfeit,” Nicholson asked.
“I have no idea how he (Redmond) thinks,” Thompson said.
The next witness called by Hoovler was cashier Josh Barlow. Barlow testified that he was the cashier on duty in the electronics department when Redmond purchased the television.
Hoovler asked Barlow why he remembered the transaction.
“Yes, because I was called into the office because I accepted counterfeit money from a customer,” Barlow said.
When asked how it happened, that he did not do the usual inspection of the money, Barlow said that he was very busy and distracted at the time.
“Other customers were waiting for help and I was the only one in the department,” Barlow said.
Admitting that he did not inspect the money carefully, Barlow said he was given a written reprimand for his actions.
When Nicholson revisited his neglect to catch the fake bills in his cross-examination, Barlow simply admitted he was too busy and distracted to follow the proper procedure. Nicholson went on to make the point that if the money fooled Barlow, it could have fooled Redmond as well.
Lt. Kevin Wert of the Bucyrus Police Department was considered a key witness for the case. Wert was dispatched to Walmart the morning Redmond tried to return the television.
Theresa Spears, the daytime assistant manager stalled Redmond and his girlfriend while the police were contacted.
Wert, a 20-year veteran of the force took Redmond and Redmond’s girlfriend back to the station for questioning. After questioning the girlfriend, Wert concluded that she was not a part of and had no knowledge of the counterfeit money.
Hoovler played the interrogation tape of Redmond for the jury. Throughout the interview, Redmond denied knowing the bills were counterfeit.
When asked if he had a job, Redmond told Wert that he “buys and sells things online,” and anyone could have given him the fake money.
Pointing out that Redmond also had several pre-paid Visa cards in his wallet, Wert asked Redmond where he got them. Redmond said he purchases them at gas stations to do business online. Wert said that was a key clue. According to his testimony, often times counterfeiters will go to gas stations and small stores to pass the bills and then transfer them to cash using the cards.
In the interview, Wert pointed out that each bill, the seven they know that he used and the eighth bill that was found in the clothing department had the exact same serial numbers. Redmond still said he got the bills from several different transactions that he completed totaling $75.
Wert pointed out once again that the bills that were spent at Walmart totaled $140.
He asked Redmond if he’d done a transaction somewhere else and broke another fake $20.
Redmond repeatedly denied that he knew the bills were counterfeit.
“It’s a bad story,” Wert said. “You are not going to get the same serial numbers from different places. That has to be a lie, the odds of that are astronomical.”
Wert testified that the purchase of pre-paid visa cards is common practice for counterfeiters and a good way for them to launder money.
On cross-examination, Nicholson accused Wert of “bullying” Redmond.
“I listened to his story and I told him I didn’t believe it,” Wert said.
Nicholson retorted, “You didn’t look into his story.”
Another witness from the prosecution was Christine Hammock, a Universal Associate with the FC Bank in Bucyrus. Hammock showed the jury how to identify counterfeit money and what you would expect to see on a normal piece of currency.
After the State rested, it was the defense’s turn to put on their case in chief.
Tom Nicholson called Cody Redmond to the stand as his first witness. Redmond testified that he was a high school graduate but did not read and write well. He testified that he is not employed and lives with his fiancé, their baby and her mother. He said he sells and trades on the Internet. He testified that he bought the TV but then returned it because it would not connect to his home Wifi. He said he intended to get something else in its place.
On cross-examination, Hoovler asked Redmond what year he graduated high school. Redmond said he graduated in 2011.
Regarding Redmond’s reasoning for returning the TV, Hoovler told Redmond he found it curious that he never mentioned that in his interview with Lt. Wert.
Other witnesses presented by Nicholson were Destiny Skidmore who said she believed Redmond was passed the bills by someone he did not know and Crystal Riley, the mother of Redmond’s fiancé. She testified that she had known Redmond for about a year and he had always been honest with her. On cross-examination, Hoovler asked her for specific examples of when she knew that Redmond could be honest or lie but chose to be honest. She could not recall a specific example but said that she bought a gaming system from him and he was honest about the working condition of the system.
In closing arguments, Hoovler asked the jury to look at the evidence.
“He got stuck with a story he couldn’t get out of,” Hoovler said. “Look at his story and see if it makes sense, it’s not consistent with the evidence”
In his closing, Nicholson referred to famous columnist Paul Harvey and said the prosecution failed to tell “the rest of the story.” Asking the jurors to look closely at their instructions and insisted that the state did not prove Redmond’s purpose to defraud, Nicholson told the jury; “You are the last line of defense,” concluded Nicholson.
The jury deliberated for a little less than an hour. They asked and reviewed the surveillance video of Redmond paying for the television.
The jury returned a guilty verdict. Leuthold ordered Redmond taken into custody while a pre-sentence investigation is conducted.
Leuthold will sentence Redmond at a later date.