Man, woman arrested after deputy finds counterfeit cash, meth during traffic stop

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A man and woman were arrested over the weekend after deputies said they found meth and counterfeit cash in their vehicle.

On Sunday evening, a deputy pulled over Jason Connolly and Ashley Jenkins on Bowles Farm Road in Statesville for a traffic violation.

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While the deputy was speaking to Connolly, he noticed a glass pipe used to smoke meth in the center console of the Ford Explorer. The deputy discovered Connolly had two outstanding felony probation warrants and arrested him.

Because the drug paraphernalia was in plain sight, the deputy searched the vehicle and found methamphetamine, according to the sheriff’s office. The deputy also found 83 counterfeit $100 bills.

Jenkins, who was in the passenger seat, also was in possession of meth as well as 14 more counterfeit $100 bills, officials said.

Sheriff Darren Campbell showed Channel 9's Dave Faherty some of the more than $8,000 in counterfeit money they have recovered so far.

Deputies said they do not know at this point how much of the money is out there. They said some of the money had Chinese symbols on it and every one of the $100 bills had the same serial number on them.

The sheriff said he is asking people in the area to pay close attention to their money. Deputies in Alexander County have posted an image of the money on their Facebook, concerned some of it may have been passed there.

"It effects the businesses," Campbell said. "It effects everyone who sells services because they're out this money when this money is passed."

Resident Robert Bustle said he ended up getting some of the counterfeit money when he tried to sell a washing machine on Facebook Marketplace.

"People work hard for what they have and trying to sell something, you expect to get paid. It looked real," Bustle said. "I guess it hurts us all if there's a lot of that money in circulation."

Both were taken to the Iredell County Detention Center, where Connolly, 40, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and felony possession of counterfeit currency, along with the two felony probation violations.

Jenkins, 31, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and felony possession of counterfeit currency.

Cox Media Group