The "phony cash" that landed former City Councilman Hank Smith in jail last month may not have been counterfeit after all, police said.

The State Attorney's Office said Monday it declined to file formal charges against Smith after Daytona Beach Shores investigators determined "the bills in question are not counterfeit."

The 50-year-old Smith had been charged with uttering forged bills and possession of more than 10 counterfeit bills on Nov. 30. Police said Smith entered a liquor store and a gas station on two separate days and offered dollar bills as payment for rum and cigarettes.

Monday afternoon, Daytona Beach Shores Sgt. Mike Fowler said the cash was sent to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for investigation and "the Department of Treasury couldn't determine it (the money) was counterfeit."

The bills Smith used came from a sheet of 32 one-dollar bills that were framed and sold as a novelty at a jewelry store at the Daytona Flea and Farmer's Market. Smith said he purchased the framed bills in 1985 for almost $200 and hung the item in the TV room of his residence.

"I always thought the money was real," Smith said from his home on Monday afternoon. "We spent it in our own town. I would never (spend counterfeit money) in my own town."

The former councilman said the fancy frame that contained the bills included the words "U.S. Department of the Treasury" on it, so he had no reason to doubt that the cash was legal tender.

When a fire ravaged most of his house some years ago, however, Smith placed the framed money and some other valuables in a shed. Recently, when he retrieved the frame from the shed, Smith said he told his wife: "Let's spend it."

But, according to Fowler, Smith thought the cash was counterfeit.

"The clerks (at the stores) thought it was fake, the police thought it was fake and Hank Smith thought it was fake," Fowler said. "His intent was to pass counterfeit bills."

Smith, who resigned from his City Council seat in August, denied saying the money was fake and that he intended to go out and spend counterfeit cash.

"If I were to be making counterfeit bills, do you think I would be making one-dollar bills?" he asked. "I would never do that."

To read the complete article, see:No charges for former Shores councilman in fake cash case(www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/12/13/
no-charges-for-former-shores-councilman-in-fake-cash-case.html)