Try at passing old $1,000 bill foils safe-robbers

[February 25, 2009]  TEXAS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- Authorities say an antique $1,000 bill proved the downfall of three teenagers on the run in Michigan.

The Kalamazoo County sheriff's department says the trio stole a safe containing antique money from one of the youth's parents.

The Kalamazoo Gazette and the Birmingham News say they drove a stolen van to Birmingham, Ala., where an 18-year-old tried to exchange the $1,000 bill Thursday at a Service First Bank branch.

The U.S. Treasury stopped printing $1,000 bills in 1945, so the bank called police. Officers arrested the teen and two 15-year-old companions.

They remained in custody Tuesday in Birmingham awaiting return to Michigan. They're from Texas Township, about 135 miles west of Detroit.

[Associated Press]

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