Vandergrift woman accused of using fake $100 bills to buy cigarettes, lighters ordered to court

A Vandergrift woman was ordered to appear in Westmoreland County Court on charges that she passed counterfeit $100 bills at a local shop.

Melissa L. Seibel, 50, of the 100 block of Grant Avenue was charged April 20 with two misdemeanor counts of possession of an instrument of crime and a count of theft by deception.

She was released from custody on a $1,000 unsecured bond. Seibel on June 27 waived her right to a preliminary hearing before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec, who ordered Seibel to appear in Westmoreland County Court for a plea hearing Aug. 30, according to court records.

Vandergrift police wrote in a criminal complaint that the manager of the store, which was not identified in court documents, reported a woman used a fake $100 bill to buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes and a lighter.

After being given change from the cashier, the woman used a second bogus $100 bill to buy another lighter before leaving the store.

The store manger gave police the counterfeit bills, which were marked “for motion picture use only” along with the word “copy” near the serial number.

Except for the warning labels, the bills looked like authentic $100 bills, police said.

The manager also gave police video from a security camera that showed the bogus bills being passed, the complaint said.

He told police the woman was a regular customer but only knew that her first name is Melissa and that she lived near the intersection of Grant and Columbia avenues, police said.

Police were able to track down Seibel after she was arrested on theft charges by another Vandergrift officer on April 22, the complaint said.

Seibel was charged with theft and receiving stolen property in connection with that case. She waived those charges during the June 27 hearing before Peck Yakopec, who ordered her to stand trial.

Investigators said they were able to match the booking photo from the April 22 theft case to the images seen in the surveillance video from the store, police said.

When officers questioned Seibel at her home, she told them that she picked up the bills after two juveniles came into the store and dropped them, the complaint said.

Seibel told police that she knew the bills were fake when she bought the items, according to her arrest papers.