CARTHAGE, Mo. — 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.
According to Detective, Aaron Kmick with the Carthage Police Department, Tewell was arrested without incident at his home located at 2048 Marigold Street in Carthage. Late Thursday evening (3/23), police were able to obtain a search warrant of Tewell’s home where they discovered and seized several items relating to Confederate States of America bank notes, and other items of interest.
“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.
| Carthage Man Accused Of Fraud In Multiple States >
Just hours prior to his arrest, Tewell responded to our report, continuing to insist the alleged victims were in fact scamming him in an attempt to keep the notes he gave or sold them.
Jeremy Tewell 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. You can read our full investigative report, HERE.
We’ll continue to follow this story and provide further information as it becomes available.
