Counterfeit Money Turning Up On Innes Street

BY MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

Funny money's come to town, and it seems to favor drive-throughs.

Salisbury Police have investigated at least three instances in the past week of people passing counterfeit bills. The counterfeiters seem to favor fast-food restaurants on East Innes Street near Interstate 85.

Sometime between Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, someone passed counterfeit $20 bills at Hardee's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The fake bills were imitations of the new $20 notes, which the federal government redesigned to help thwart counterfeiters.

Someone also passed $110 in counterfeit bills at the Race Trac at 1314 E. Innes St. on Feb. 1.

Capt. Mark Wilhelm said police have turned the counterfeit bills over to U.S. Secret Service agents.

''People are catching them,'' Wilhelm said. ''The problem is they're catching them too late. They're finding them when they're figuring deposits, and it's too late to recall who they've taken them from.''

Mike Pritchard, assistant special agent in charge for the Secret Service's Charlotte District, confirmed that counterfeit bills have shown up in Charlotte recently.

The method of producing and passing these fake bills is somewhat consistent, he said. People usually produce the bills at home by ''scanning'' them into their home computer, then print out the image on a high-quality printer.

They often then take the bills through drive-through windows at fast-food restaurants, in case they need to make a quick getaway.

''We're getting three to five counterfeit plants a week'' in North Carolina, Pritchard said.

Historically, counterfeiting has been a pretty involved process, because 99 percent of it was done with a large press, he added.

However, more and more people have produced fake bills with their home computers over the past two to three years, he said.

''It's so simple, people don't realize how serious it is,'' Pritchard said.

Producing and passing counterfeit U.S. currency ' a federal felony ' carries a maximum of 15 years in prison for each fake bill.

In addition, the government probably will seize their computer and their vehicle if it was used to transport the fake bills.

''You could print one $20 bill, go down to McDonald's, get caught and be looking at 15 years in prison,'' Pritchard said.

Pritchard isn't surprised to see fake bills in Salisbury.

''The two-edge sword of the new note ... is that with the changeover, most people can't tell you what a hundred's supposed to look like anyway,'' he said. The same can be said of the new $20 bills, he added.

The new design combats mainly domestic and overseas counterfeiting on a sophisticated, large scale, Pritchard said, noting that 80 percent of the new $100 bills are immediately shipped overseas.

''The American dollar is the backbone of the world right now,'' he said.

The problem at the local level is new computer technology. ''I think it's safe to say there's no document out there today that can't be reproduced.''