Once a suspect targeted a little boy and his lemonade stand, neighbors in Everett, Washington, stepped in to offer help.
Jeremy Ryzhonkov recently turned 12 and runs a vending machine business, a lawn mowing business, and a snack stand, King 5 reported Friday.
He was on Beverly Boulevard selling lemonade and food a few weeks ago when he said two men purchased $20 worth of items, then they wanted to know if he could break a $100 bill.
“After the suspect left, Jeremey went to the local gas station, where he learned that the 100-dollar bill was fake and was out all his allowance money,” the department continued, adding citizens should contact the agency if they recognized the suspect in the photo:
Can you identify this individual who took advantage of an 11-year-old running a lemonade stand?Over the summer, an…
Posted by Everett Police Department on Thursday, August 4, 2022
Meanwhile, Jeremy was putting some of his money toward his other businesses and keeping some to spend. The rest was going toward helping families such as his own who were in Ukraine.
Despite the setback, Jeremy returned to work on Friday. In addition, neighbors gave him a marker to detect counterfeits and also bought snacks from him.
According to Zen Business, counterfeit money was an ongoing threat to retailers.
As of Sunday afternoon, a GoFundMe page created to help the boy had raised $10,900 of its $250 goal.
“This was set up with the hopes that we could get Jeremy successfully set up to reopen his stand again. With all of the love and support this has gained WORLD wide now this has completely exceeded any hopes,” an update on the page read.
“This proves that there are so many great people in this world and we far surpass the bad ones,” the update continued.
