Bellingham has had 250 reported car thefts in 2022, but one was paid for . . . sort of
Bellingham Police Department has received 250 stolen vehicle reports in 2022, slightly more than two per day. But one of those stolen vehicles was actually paid for . . . well, sort of.
Mark Edwin Rhoton, 36 of Deming, was booked into Whatcom County Jail Monday, May 2, on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle and counterfeiting.
Officers were called at 4:22 p.m. Friday, April 29, to the 700 block of Northshore Drive after a victim called to report that he had sold his 2008 Ford F150 and had received counterfeit $100 bills in the transaction, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
The victim told officers that a man named “Mark,” who was later identified as Rhoton, had shown interest in the truck and paid a family member of the victim in $100 bills for the agreed-upon amount, Murphy reported. When the victim returned and examined the bills, he realized they were fake and called the police.
The truck was listed as stolen since it had been obtained fraudulently, according to Murphy.
On Monday, another officer responded to a suspicious person call in the 700 block of Telegraph Road and noted the stolen truck, Murphy reported.
Rhoton admitted to purchasing the truck but denied using counterfeit cash in the transaction, according to Murphy.
But the cash received by the victim “was clearly counterfeit,” Murphy wrote, and Rhoton was booked into jail.
For the record, the 250 car thefts as of Tuesday morning, May 3, already have exceeded Bellingham’s annual totals from 2017 and 2019 (165, 182 and 155) and are more than half what was reported in each 2020 and 2021 (378 and 368) with nearly eight months left to go.
