DELTONA, Fla. — A Deltona Walmart employee was arrested Monday after deputies said she switched out $7,600 for counterfeit money.
Another Walmart employee noticed the fake money on Sunday while counting a $10,000 stack of $100 bills and alerted a manager, who wrapped the bundle of fake cash in white paper and locked it in a safe.
The employee noticed the middle portion of the stack of bills looked blueish and felt different.
“Seventy-six hundred dollars in one stack. I mean, it’s pretty hard to miss,” said Volusia County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Andrew Gant.
The front of the bills has the words, “For motion picture use only.”
“I think at first glance it’s the kind of bill that looks legit. That’s why they use it in movies,” said Gant.
A Walmart supervisor wrapped the fake bills up with a note saying, “Do not use” and put them in the safe.
When a loss prevention officer went to inspect the money, the fake bills were missing from the safe.
Deputies said surveillance video showed that employee Xiomara Matias-Cruz, 32, went into the safe, picked up the “do not use” and left work 15 minutes after her shift started.
The loss prevention officer then reviewed surveillance video from early Friday showing Matias-Cruz opening the safe, fumbling with something and reaching into her pockets.
She was also holding unbundled cash in her hand, deputies said.
Matias-Cruz was arrested on charges of grand theft and obtaining property by fraud.
She has bonded out of jail.