Local News

Grants Pass Police jailed two California men for using counterfeit money to purchase items at Walmart after they returned to the scene of the crime last weekend.

The Police Department reports officers arrested 49-year-old Richard Lane Kaufman and 30-year-old Blake Joshua Hammercord at the store on NE Terry Lane on Sunday at about 3:45 p.m..

Police said Kaufman and Hammercord purchased merchandise at two separate Walmart registers using counterfeit $100 bills on Saturday night. Both men returned to the store on Sunday afternoon and managers immediately called 9-1-1.

Kaufman was contacted and found to be in possession of another phony $100 bill, and he ultimately admitted to knowing the C-note he used on Saturday was fake. Hammercord was detained and found to be in possession of two counterfeit bills.

Further investigation determined Kaufman and Hammercord are from California, and that they are suspects in additional theft cases in that state.

Kaufman was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for 1st-Degree Forgery, two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument and 2nd-Degree Theft. Hammercord was jailed on the same charges plus an additional count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument. Both men were being held without bail.