In March 2004, a routine shopping trip to a Covington, Georgia, Walmart turned into an unprecedented police incident. Thirty-five-year-old Alice Pike approached the store register with a cart packed full of merchandise and a highly unusual method of payment.
She attempted to settle her grocery bill using a one million dollar note. This fascinating event quickly made national news, revealing a verifiable misunderstanding at the cash register. The sequence of events provides a detailed look at a highly specific retail transaction that attracted law enforcement attention.
A High-Value Walmart Shopping Spree
Pike gathered exactly $1,671.55 worth of assorted goods during her store visit. When she arrived at the checkout line to pay for the items, she initially handed the cashier two Walmart gift cards. The cashier scanned the cards and informed Pike that they contained a combined total of merely $2.32.
Faced with a financial shortfall, Pike reached into her wallet and presented a one million dollar bill. She handed the novelty note, measuring approximately 2.61 by 6.14 inches (6.6 by 15.6 centimeters), directly to the cashier and simply stated, “All I’ve got is this.”
The Demand for Cash Change
The transaction stalled completely when Pike requested her cash change. She expected the Walmart employee to process the bill and hand over exactly $998,328.45 in return. The United States Treasury has never printed or issued a one million dollar bill.
The largest denomination ever circulated for general public use was the $10,000 note, while the $100,000 note was exclusively used for official transactions between Federal Reserve banks. The cashier recognized the impossibility of the transaction and notified the store manager. The manager then contacted the local police department.
The Arrest and Police Investigation
Officers arrived at the Covington store and promptly arrested Pike on felony charges of first-degree forgery. While in police custody, Pike provided her exact explanation to the investigating authorities. She insisted that she had zero intention of committing fraud and genuinely believed the one million dollar bill was authentic legal tender.
Pike claimed she received the note from her estranged husband, whom she described as an avid currency collector. When reporters later asked her about the plausibility of such a high-denomination note, she stated from jail that “you can’t keep up with the U.S. Treasury.”
The Gag Gift Evidence
The bill Pike tried to spend was an inexpensive gag gift readily available in novelty shops and online stores. Law enforcement officials confiscated the fake money and placed it into their evidence locker.
The official Covington police report documented the entire interaction, confirming that Pike waited by the register expecting nearly a million dollars in change before officers arrived. The event was recorded in local arrest logs and widely reported by verified national news outlets.