Counterfeit bills circulate though Brownsville, Mon Valley
CALIFORNIA – At least six counterfeit $10 bills were passed recently in the borough, one of several Mon Valley communities hit by the bogus bills. According to officer Tom Hixenbaugh of the California Police Department, the staff at a local bar found the six bills as they were counting the receipts for the night June 27.
The counterfeits were immediately reported to the local police and to the Secret Service office in Pittsburgh for investigation.
“Right now I have two people I need to talk to and hopefully get a good description from,” Hixenbaugh said.
The police have a general description of a possible suspect: a white man in his 20s, between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall.
Hixenbaugh said that if the bar hadn’t been busy and fairly dark, the bills most likely would have been spotted immediately.
“The paper doesn’t feel right; the paper doesn’t look right. It doesn’t have the colored fibers in it,” Hixenbaugh said.
According to the Secret Service, the paper used to print money has red and blue threads embedded in it. It is illegal to reproduce the paper for anything other than manufacturing official government money.
Hixenbaugh said the coloring also is off on the counterfeits, with some of the ink bleeding through the paper. All of the bills had the same serial number, BB22712873C, and are listed as being Series 1999 bills. Hixenbaugh said it is obvious that each bill is a copy of another.
“If you just take a second to look at them, you can tell it’s not a real bill,” Hixenbaugh said.
Hixenbaugh said the RESA regional police force and the Donora Police Department also had reports of counterfeit bills being passed.