Alert store clerk leads Gainesville police to forgery suspects

GAINESVILLE - Two Atlanta men have been arrested in connection with at least three forgery attempts in the Gainesville area.

Gainesville officers said Antoine Maurice Willis, 24, and Wally Anthony Perkins, 25, were picked up at the Best Buy store on Dawsonville Highway Thursday night.

Both men also are suspected of trying to make fradulent purchases at Belk at Lakeshore Mall and Wal-Mart on Shallowford Road.

Gainesville police spokesman Kevin Holbrook said it was an alert associate at Belk that actually lead to the arrests. That associate spotted the two suspects buying high-end handbags at the store with what appeared to be forged out-of-state checks and debit cards.

"They actually had in their possession a forged out-of-state identification card which they also presented to apply for store credit cards under those fraudulent names," said Holbrook.

The associate, said Holbrook, gave police a description of the suspects and their vehicle and that lead to their arrests at the nearby Best Buy, where they were attempting to make a fraudulent purchase.

Holbrook said during the course of the investigation, officers also discovered the two had tried to make a purchase at Wal-Mart, but they left the store when sales associates refused to accept their forms of payment.

Willis has been charged with three counts of forgery by Gainesville police, while Perkins faces one count of party to a crime.

Gainesville police say they are working with other agencies to see if the two may be tied to more crimes in the metro Atlanta area.