Two women from Lehigh Acres have been arrested in Bainbridge, Ga., and charged with forgery, along with a relative living in Bainbridge, also being charged.

Decatur (Ga.) County Sheriff’s deputies arrested the three after recovering more than $1,000 in counterfeit money, according to news accounts in Bainbridge.

Officials there said that on Friday, April 9, Sheriff’s deputies arrested three people. There were identified as Amelia Contreras, 28, of 107 Delaware Rd, Lehigh Acres; Maria Contreras, 58, also of Lehigh Acres; and Fransisco Contreras, 33, of Bainbridge.

The investigation began after Sheriff’s Capt. Chip Nix received information regarding a woman visiting Decatur County being accused of passing counterfeit bills in Bainbridge.

Nix contacted Amelia Contreas and he said she admitted that “some of it is in the car” where he recovered a counterfeit $20. They then proceeded to 209 Miller Avenue with her brother, Fransico Contreras and two juvenile children.

According to news accounts, at Fransico’s home investigators explained to the occupant that Amelia had been arrested and they were there to recover the remainder of the counterfeit bills. A $50 counterfeit bill was recovered from the pocket of a pair of jeans Fransico had hung on his bedroom wall.

In Amelia Contreras’s purse, approximately $1,000 in suspected counterfeit in various bills were recovered. A search of the residence revealed no other contraband.