Police: Local Rapper Used Bogus $50 Bills at Casino

Image: Martrel Rayshard Reeves (AACPD)

A rap musician from Bowie is facing legal trouble for allegedly passing fake $50 bills at a local casino.

Anne Arundel County police arrested Martrel Rayshard Reeves, 25, on Sunday evening at the Maryland Live casino at Arundel Mills after he tried to exchange $450 in bogus bills for gambling chips, according to a police report. Reeves has been charged with possession of counterfeit currency.

A rapper known as Fat Trel, Reeves performs at Howard, Georgetown and other area universities, radio station WTOP reported.

At the casino, a pit boss who received the cash from Reeves became suspicious and alerted casino security, the police report stated. They scanned the bills and determined they were counterfeit; eight of the nine bills had the same serial number.

Reeves told police that he got the cash from an ATM at a 7-11 convenience store in the District, and he didn't know the bills were counterfeit.

The U.S. Secret Service, which monitors cases of counterfeit currency for the Treasury Department, will investigate the incident, the police report stated.