2019-10-09 @  7:04pm #Westport CT–Police  officers responded to the West Elm store, 35 Main Street, on a complaint of a customer attempting to make an $8.00 purchase with what was suspected to be a counterfeit $100.00 bill. According to staff, when the customer was told that the bill did not look real, he attempted to pay for the item he had selected with a $10.00 bill and did not ask for the $100.00 bill back. This behavior raised further suspicions and prompted the call to police. Responding officers located the individual in question, identified as Alex Burnett-Deroche, and initially detained him while the matter was being investigated. Upon inspection of the suspected counterfeit currency, it was apparently missing several key identifiers and was therefore recognizable as a forgery. Also found in Burnett-Deroche’s possession were two credit cards determined through investigation to be forged. Using a credit card reader device, it was learned that the account numbers programmed on each of the two cards’ magnetic strips were associated with two credit accounts previously reported as stolen in March of 2018.

Burnett-Deroche was subsequently taken into custody and transported to Westport Police headquarters for processing. He was charged with violations of 53a-138 Forgery First Degree, two counts of 53a-129d Identity Theft Third Degree, and 53a-49(53a-125b) Criminal Attempt to Commit Larceny Sixth Degree. Bond for these charges was set at $5,000.00. He was unable to post this bond and was arraigned at Norwalk Superior Court on the morning of Thursday October 10, 2019.