Do you have to pay restitution of some sort if you falsely accuse someone of a crime?

Is suspicion of committing a crime all it takes to have someone arrested.
Are you ever liable if you're wrong and the person did nothing wrong, and
you only thought a crime had been committed. I am asking because I found a
news story and it's conclusion left me hanging. Was the man compensated for
being falsely arrested? Did "Best Buy" have to apologize? Or did the man sue
"Best Buy" and win?

Also, I am wondering why they had to call in the Secret Service? Can't any
law enforcement officer tell if a bill is genuine or not? I thought all
paper money, at least in the US, had red and blue fibers blended into the
paper stock.

Source: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/articl...TICLE_ID=43685

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Man arrested, cuffed after using $2 bills
Best Buy customer on being jailed: 'At this point, I'm a mass murderer'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: April 7, 2005
5:12 p.m. Eastern



© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

A man trying to pay a fee using $2 bills was arrested, handcuffed and taken
to jail after clerks at a Best Buy store questioned the currency's
legitimacy and called police.

According to an account in the Baltimore Sun, 57-year-old Mike Bolesta was
shocked to find himself taken to the Baltimore County lockup in
Cockeysville, Md., where he was handcuffed to a pole for three hours while
the U.S. Secret Service was called to weigh in on the case.


Bolesta told the Sun: "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches
high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to
a pole - and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a
brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was
humiliating."

After Best Buy personnel reportedly told Bolesta he would not be charged for
the installation of a stereo in his son's car, he received a call from the
store saying it was in fact charging him the fee. As a means of protest,
Bolesta decided to pay the $114 bill using 57 crisp, new $2 bills.

As the owner of Capital City Student Tours, the Baltimore resident has a
hearty supply of the uncommon currency. He often gives the bills to students
who take his tours for meal money.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest
thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want
to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm
thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2
bills.'"

Bolesta explained what happened when he presented the bills to the cashier
at Best Buy Feb. 20.

"She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I
don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my
bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the
money - like she's doing me a favor."

Bolesta says the cashier marked each bill with a pen. Other store employees
began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

According to the Sun report, the police arrest report noted one employee
noticed some smearing of ink on the bills. That's when the cops were called.
One officer reportedly noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

Said Bolesta: "I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of
these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank.' I'm
sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a
sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me,
'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping
my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're
doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was taken to the lockup, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in
leg irons while the Secret Service was called.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Secret Service agent Leigh Turner eventually arrived and declared the bills
legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money
can smear."

Commenting on the incident, Baltimore County police spokesman Bill Toohey
told the Sun: "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11
world."

Have you contacted the person who is the central figure in this story?

An amazing amount of clues to contacting him are in the story (which
was reported here and discussed at length in at least two different
threads a month or so ago and featured in a "FOXTROT" sunday comic).

I've called the reporter at the paper when I wanted to contact someone.
That's how I got Jim Benfield's phone number 2 decades ago.

Here is a start:
http://www.capitalcitytours.com/
http://www.capitalcitytours.com/aboutus.html