The U.S. Secret Service has a new target: child counterfeiters.
In recent months, there have been three reports of counterfeiting in Anne Arundel County schools.
Annapolis police said a 14-year-old boy this week gave a photocopied $20 bill to a peer to buy lunch at Bates Middle School. The fake bill was of poor quality and obviously phony, officials said.
Federal agents are also investigating students in North County High School for reportedly taking more than $550 in counterfeit money to school, and 19-year-old Darrell Oliver was charged in April with passing counterfeit U.S. currency.
Secret Service agents said juveniles account for about $1,000 of the $48,000 in counterfeit cash seized annually in the Baltimore region.
“Counterfeiting in Annapolis is not smart,” said Edwin Lugo, special agent in charge of the Secret Service office in Baltimore. “Their investigation effort is pretty advanced.”
But counterfeit cash used by juveniles is just a drop in the bucket compared to some of the heists pulled off, Lugo said.
Juvenile cases usually occur when “curiosity turns into a crime,” Lugo said. “We are involved until we determine that it was a blatant criminal act or an act of indiscretion by a juvenile.”
Real money has a visible security thread and a watermark image that can be seen when held up to the light. Fake money usually has security threads or portraits that don’t match the denominations of the bill.
