An overpowering bad odor at a Bank of America branch office in New Milford prompted an emergency response from state environmental officials who discovered a bad check. It wasn’t a check that was fake. It was smelly.

The Department of Environmental Protection made the discovery after evacuating the bank Thursday afternoon.

The stinky smell turned out to be from a paycheck deposited by a man who transferred machine oil from his hands to the check before he handed it to a teller through the drive-up window.

The DEP determined there was no hazard, and the bank reopened for business about an hour later.

___

Information from: Republican-American, http://www.rep-am.com