CONFEDERATE CURRENCY COUNTERFEITER CAUGHT

A Carthage man who is accused of counterfeiting and fraud by several people in various states across the U.S., has now been arrested and charged.

Carthage Police Chief, Bill Hawkins confirmed that Jeremy J. Tewell, 44, of Carthage was arrested Thursday (3/23) and is charged with forgery and felony stealing. Chief Hawkins said a person from the Carthage area contacted the police department, stating they too had purchased a counterfeit Confederate States of America bank note. Hawkins says the note was confirmed to be counterfeit by an unknown third party who specializes in civil war era currency.

It's not unusual to work a crime of forgery or various types of fraud, but this one is — in the fact that it deals with various types of currency, and it deals with multi-state victims. So, just trying to coordinate this into just one big case, it's challenging, said Chief Hawkins.

Jeremy Tewell of Carthage, Missouri is named by at least four different dealers that specialize in valuable collections, including coins, currency, and fine jewelry. All of them accuse Tewell of selling or attempting to sell items of rarity and/or worth. In our independent investigation, KSNF/KODE spent several weeks researching these claims. Not only did we speak with the alleged victims — all of them sharing similar stories about what they say is fraudulent activity involving Tewell — we also spoke with coin/currency and collection experts, as well as law enforcement, including the United States Secret Service.

Those who claim to have been defrauded by the Carthage man are spreading the word on social media sites, like Facebook and Instagram — in an attempt to warn others about the lack of authenticity about items that Tewell has recently sold or tried to sell online.

Our investigation into these claims lead us to Raleigh, North Carolina resident, Brad Ciociola who owns Carolina Rare Coins and Currency. According to Ciociola, Tewell contacted him on Facebook about selling a rare Confederate States of America note (currency that was used in the southern states during the American Civil War). It was estimated to be worth several thousand dollars.

I made an agreement with the guy. I kind of felt him out. He said he wanted 10 grand. I said, ‘hey, I'll give you $9,500 and we made a deal.' I've done enough of these transactions, I know better than to pay upfront. He asked me how I propose doing the transaction. I said, ‘you overnight me the notes and as soon as I get it, I'll send you a check.

Ciociola said as soon as he received the package that contained the CSA note, it didn't take long for him to discover that it was fake.

As soon as I opened the package and looked at the note, I could tell it was counterfeit. There were so many things that were wrong about the note, you could definitely tell it was 100% not real. I'm probably one of the top ten Confederate note experts in the country, and I know what to look for when it comes to a real note and a fake one, Ciociola stated.

Ciociola said he did not send the CSA note back to Tewell, but instead filed a police report with the Johnson County (North Carolina) Sheriff's Department, and gave it to authorities there as evidence of fraud.

To read the complete articles, see:
At least four people have come forward with claims of fraud, counterfeiting (https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/national/carthage-man-accused-of-fraud-in-multiple-states/)
Carthage man arrested for allegedly selling counterfeit Civil War era currency (https://www.fourstateshomepage.com/local-news/carthage-man-arrested-for-allegedly-selling-counterfeit-civil-war-era-currency/)

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