Business Insider reports that a Texas woman, Julia Garcia, is suing her local San Antonio Wal-Mart for ripping up two $100 bills she used for payment and holding her captive for two hours in view of all customers waiting for police to arrive to verify her claim they were real.
Garcia was doing some early Christmas shopping when, at the checkout line, the clerk said the $100 bill she tried to pay with was a fake and proceeded to rip it up without even checking for authenticity first. Despite the metal security strip showing, the clerk still denied it was real and the manager was called. When Garcia then produced a second $100 bill to show she was using real cash the manager then tore up the money without checking it and called in store security to detain Garcia in front of the store for two hours before calling the police.
When police arrived they verified the bills were real and required Wal-Mart to give her back her money — at which point they attempted to give her back the ripped up $100 bills before giving her fresh ones after she rejected the destroyed ones.
Following this whole debacle Garcia has hired an attorney and is now pressing charges against Wal-Mart for “less than $74,900” due to false imprisonment, emotional trauma and duress.