Clinton police are searching for two women who cashed counterfeit checks totaling more than $1,000 at Piggly Wiggly one month ago. They are calling on the public to provide any information they can about the women, who used fraudulent driver’s licenses to cash the phony business checks.

Clinton police Detective Russell Strickland said the two black females entered the Piggly Wiggly on Northeast Boulevard on Nov. 25 with “obvious fake IDs.” The two females on the N.C. driver’s licenses were residents out of Charlotte and looked nothing like the two women attempting to cash the checks, Strickland noted.

The two suspects, whose pictures were captured by the grocery store’s surveillance video cameras, each cashed one check. The checks were plain payroll checks written from Carolina Dry Cleaners. Strickland said there is no such business.

“They’re counterfeit,” he said. “The company doesn’t exist.”

One check was written in the amount of $496.90. The other was in the amount of $523.90.

After the checks were cashed, the two females left the business.

They are now being sought on felony charges.

Strickland said, when talking about counterfeiting case, the consequences for perpetrators will be felony in nature — especially when dealing with currency and checks.

If the checks were drawn from a valid account with insufficient funds, the crime would only be a felony offense unless the amount exceeded $1,000. However, in this case, the check could have been written for $1 and it is still a felony, Strickland explained.

“In this case, because the checks are fake, it’s a felony,” he said.

The public is being urged to contact the Clinton Police Department if they have any information about the females that could be useful in solving the case. “We’re asking anybody with information to just call us,” Strickland said.

The Clinton Police Department can be reached at 910-592-3105.

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@intrstar.net.