Saturday, November 22, 2003
Some of the phony money was used for a pizza on Taft Avenue.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Local merchants beware.
The crisp, new $20 bill being handed to you may have come from an ink-jet printer, not a U.S. mint.
"Take a good look at them," is the warning from Detective Sgt. Anita Davis. "Feel the texture -- it has a different feel than real money. Look at the edges -- the borders tend to be crooked."
Davis is investigating several reports of phony money being passed locally.
So far, only Isaac Green, 48, of Hammaker Street has been charged. He faces 40 counts of forgery and remains in jail on $40,000 cash or surety bond. His preliminary hearing is set for Monday in municipal court.
Green, a passenger in a stolen car, was arrested Nov. 10 on North Evanston Avenue. Police found a brown bag stuffed with 40 counterfeit $20s in the car-door pocket.
The real, new $20s went into circulation in mid-October. They have tiny 20s all over the back of the bill, which has shades of peach, blue and green.
Serial problemWhen Davis signed Green's warrants, she noted that all the bills have the same serial number -- EE41805770B.
A $20 bill with that same serial number showed up a week ago on Taft Avenue.
A Pizza Hut deliveryman was given the $20 for a $15.84 order. The driver didn't notice it was a fake bill until he returned to the business on Youngstown-Poland Avenue.
The counterfeit currency showing up around town has the U.S. Secret Service "very interested" in Green because he had 40 bills, James Brundage, Secret Service special agent, said Wednesday from his Akron office.
Brundage said Green's case may be prosecuted federally. If convicted, he faces 10 to 15 years in prison, the agent said.
"On average, regular Joe Citizen will never handle counterfeit money," Brundage said. "Merchants and banks handle it."
Printing
The money Green had was likely made on a tabletop ink-jet printer, the kind sold at office supply stores, Brundage said.
It's not like the old days when plates had to be made for use on an off-set printing press, Brundage said. "Now, we have teenagers making them."
Some copiers and laser printers will pick up the image of the $20 security strip, and a busy or inexperienced clerk may not realize the bill is counterfeit, he said.
Holding a new $20 bill under an ultraviolet light will show the security strip. Pens swiped across bills aren't 100 percent accurate, Brundage said.
One-note passes make up the largest percentage of counterfeit circulation, Brundage said. He said he has several new reports of bills in this area.
meade@vindy.com