TOLEDO — A man and woman who made purchases with fake U.S. currency have been charged in the U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio with the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit obligations or securities.
Indictments against Paul Bakle and Katrina Shaw were unsealed in March in federal court. According to the indictment Bakle and Shaw did, from Dec. 18, 2022, to Jan. 7, 2023, falsely make, forge, counterfeit and alter U.S. currency and attempted to make purchases with counterfeit currency in the form of $5, $10, $20 and $100 bills.
According to the indictment, the bills were used to make purchases at various locations in Defiance County and in the cities of Van Wert and Delphos.
Jury trials for both defendants is scheduled for Aug. 21 in federal court in Toledo, with Judge James Knepp II presiding.
Bakle in 2020 was sentenced in Putnam County Common Pleas Court to eight months in jail for attempted counterfeiting. He was living in Ottawa at that time.
According to the indictment Bakle and Shaw were arrested in January in Defiance County and had counterfeit money on them. Law enforcement reportedly searched Shaw’s Van Wert home and found more bills and equipment to make the fake currency.
