ARREST MADE IN COUNTERFEITING

MARC MILLSTEIN

COLUMBIA, Miss. -- A man suspected of cashing an estimated $300,000 in counterfeit checks in supermarkets nationwide was arrested here last week after a massive four-year search.

The long hunt was marked by a cooperative effort among the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Food Marketing Institute and the U.S. Secret Service.

The suspect is Harold Lloyd Phillips, 61, according to David Rubincam, a Seattle-based FBI special agent who led the investigation for the bureau. Phillips was nabbed as he tried to cash a check at a Jitney Jungle store here. The assistant store manager reportedly recognized him from a wanted poster and alerted police, who apprehended him. The wanted posters had been compiled by the FMI in cooperation with the FBI and the Secret Service, and were sent to FMI members. Jitney Jungle reportedly had two of the posters in each of its stores.

The arrest was announced at the FMI MarkeTechnics conference and expo last week in Tampa, Fla.

"We have been on this case since about four years ago, and the FBI has been after this guy for about three years," Charles Miller, FMI's vice president of loss prevention systems, told SN in an interview. "I would say he has cost the industry in excess of $300,000." The suspect was charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and forging and counterfeiting of securities, said Rubincam.

Phillips was wanted in at least 36 states, and had many different aliases, according to Rubincam.