Man jailed after fake $20 bills passed at Cheeks

Flimflam men have pulled the swindle for decades: Ask a busy clerk for change from a counterfeit bill, then get back real money. Confusion or inattentiveness are key ingredients to escaping with clean cash.

But a barmaid at Cheeks, the Cerrillos Road adult entertainment club, was alert when Fernando Palacios of Santa Fe asked her for change, according to a criminal complaint police filed Thursday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.

Palacios, 22, ordered a beer. Then he asked club employee Jessica Martinez to change a $100 bill for five $20 bills, the complaint says.

He took the $20 bills and “appeared to manipulate the money with his hands,” Martinez told police.

Then he presented Martinez with another $20 bill and asked for change for it, too, the complaint says.

Martinez, now suspicious of the young customer’s request, examined the $20 bill and concluded it did not “feel” the same as genuine paper money, the complaint says.

“This is not real money,” Martinez told Palacios.

“That’s what you gave me,” Palacios replied before walking away, according to the complaint.

Unclear from the police records was whether the $100 bill was fake.

Police arrested Palacios outside the club, where he said he had gone to smoke a cigarette.

Cheeks employees said they also determined Palacios paid the cover charge with a counterfeit $20 bill, the complaint says.

He was booked into the county jail on suspicion of fourth-degree felony forgery and two petty misdemeanors of larceny and falsely obtaining services.