By CHRIS JACKETT
Sunday Times Newspapers
ALLEN PARK – Federal agents arrested a Michigan resident Oct. 5 after he was found bleaching $5 bills and illegally transforming them into $100 bills.
Agents had been watching the man since early September as he used the Best Western Greenfield Inn, 3000 Enterprise Drive, as his base of operations. The Secret Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Treasury, is charged with enforcing counterfeiting laws, but reports were unclear on exactly which government agencies were involved in the Oct. 5 arrest.
The man, and sometimes two other people, would make trips to the Dollar General less than a mile away at 18276 Allen Road and purchase toothbrushes, oven cleaners and baking sheets to help bleach the small bills.
When agents raided the hotel room the man was staying in, they found 49 counterfeit $100 bills and eight bleached $5 bills. Many counterfeit bills were found sticking out from under a mattress.
The man told agents the counterfeit money was being used to buy large amounts of marijuana, which he would then sell.
Already with an outstanding federal warrant for violating probation on a previous counterfeiting conviction, the man could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison stemming from the counterfeiting charge.
(Contact Chris Jackett at [email protected])