Uh-Oh At Uncle Sam's Money Factory

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/08/national/main1873111.shtml



Uh-Oh At Uncle Sam's Money Factory
Veteran Employee Accused Of Stealing Cash Hot Off The Presses

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2006

(AP) An employee at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing appeared in federal court Monday on charges he stole 10 sheets of $100 bills and used them to gamble at casinos in three states.

David C. Faison, of Largo, Md., distributed paper stock at the bureau's printing facility in Washington, D.C., which gave him access to the area where sheets of bills are printed, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit.

Most of the sheets he is accused of stealing contained 32 uncut, partially printed $100 bills. The money appeared normal, but it was missing serial numbers and Treasury Department seals, authorities said.

Faison appeared in U.S. District Court, where he waived a preliminary hearing and was released on his own recognizance. If found guilty, he faces up to 10 years in prison or a $250,000 fine.

Fast Facts

Faison, who is 56, worked at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for more than 30 years and has no prior record. Authorities say they found some of the stolen bills hidden in wrapping paper in his bedroom closet.

[truthisfreedom]

1. he didn't put it in his freezer? everyone knows that's the perfect place

to keep bad cash.

[Sherman A1]

2. Keeps it fresh

doesn't it?

[sendero]

7. Yes..

... and if you have any stale cash, I'll take it :)

[Kutjara]

3. Hmm, turning up in Vegas with a bunch of moody money...

...lacking serial numbers and seals doesn't strike me as the most cunning plan ever devised. I'd be hard pressed to think of a place that pays closer attention to the legitimacy of the cash they receive than the Vegas casinos. They've seen every phoney money trick in the book and can spot a wrong'un at ninety yards.

Seems like a moment of madness by an otherwise ordinary employee.

[Richard Steele]

5. He escaped immediate notice by using the bills in slot machines.

The software the slots use
to decide that a bill is 'real'
doesn't pay attention to the seals or serial numbers.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Just means he never got caught before

Someone with 30 years in a place doesn't just suddenly turn into a thief.

His big mistake was trying to pass the money at a casino. He should have gone to the flee market first and gotten change.

[sandnsea]

4. Old, worn out, used up - maybe sick??

I can sort of see someone saying "fuck it all" at that age, especially if he has some terminal disease or some such. I don't know one way or the other, mind you, but I can see it happening. I imagine he's going to have to do some jail time to set an example to the other employees, you just can't have folks stealing money from the money factory.

[Demit]

6. Sounds like you're not anywhere near 56 yet. But you will be. :)

And then you won't describe it so breezily as old, worn out and used up. I can predict this with absolute certainty.

[sandnsea]

15. I'm 48, I feel that way already

Maybe you've just not had such a hard life which is why you can't relate.

[Demit]

20. I still don't presume to call other people old, worn out, and used up.

Even if I were to feel that way about myself, I wouldn't assume that others must. That therefore it's okay to insult them.

[sandnsea]

21. omg

pull the stick out. I was just contemplating how someone who had been on the job for 30 years could do something so completely out of character, not doing a psychoanalysis for the prosecution. And I certainly wasn't insulting him, for heaven's sake the man is now a thief. How could trying to understand what motivated him, and emphathize, be considered insulting him? Do you think just writing him off as a thief isn't insulting??

[zonkers]

24. Ha! I'm only a few Olympics away from that age and I know what you mean.

[R Hickey]

9. I wonder if there is a job opening where that guy worked?

I bet he had quite a thrill stealing those sheets. But he doesn't seem too smart. Thirty years is a lot of time to figure out how to do a crime like this. After the initial snatch, he screwed eveything else up.
First, they've got cameras watching slot machines, and cameras all over casinos.
Second, with all the printers and copiers nowadays, couldn't he have just took a real $100 bill, covered everything but the numbers, and then run the stolen bills thru his personal printer, adding the numbers?
If I had worked where he worked for thirty years...well, I would have quit about twenty-nine years ago, because I would have stolen a couple of hundred of those $100 sheets instead of just ten...and hopefully, I would have bought Wallmart or maybe Halliberton stock with the booty. By now, I might even be President.

[jdadd]

10. I wonder if......

He got enough to cover the $250,000 fine....:rofl:

[Javaman]

11. the big story is: how did he get the money out of building...

It seems the story missed that giant matza ball. This guy goes on a spending spree with freshly printed money, but no one asks the burning question: if this guy can walk out of a highly secure building with fresh bills, who is minding the store?

To me, this isn't a story about a guy taking some bills, this is a story about how completely lackadaisical the security is at that building and/or the obvious security hole this guy found.

Once again, I feel so incredibly save in morons* version of America...not.

[Ilsa]

12. Not just fresh bills, but sheets of them! nt

[karlrschneider]

14. I wondered about that too! You remember the old wheelbarrow joke?

:-)

[nolabels]

16. The story is non-sensible from a logical point of view

If he was crafty enough to get the sheets out of the building why didn't he have enough sense to figure someone notice. Any body that could put two and two together would be on to him and his bogus bills when they (probably immediately) noticed that bills were not legit. Even more the guy worked that many years in the place and knows nothing about how things with currency works.

There has got to be something wrong in the reporting of this story, point blank.

[karlrschneider]

19. Yeah, I'm pretty certain if somebody handed me a Franklin

with no seal or serial numbers I would notice. I don't much look at a dollar bill or even a 20 but a hundred gets my attention, unless I get it at the bank. It's a weird story in any case.
:-)

[krispos42]

18. Well, no serial numbers and no seals

Anybody with a dram of sense looks at a Benjamin with more than passing interest. Hell, a fast-food worker would have caught this during the lunch rush, never mind a trained casino worker who deals with money for a living.

What a moron. :spank:

Well, at least he stole non-sequential C-notes :rofl:

[karlrschneider]

13. He shouldn't have cut up the sheets with

pinking shears.

:evilgrin:

[hogwyld]

17. The sad part is

He probably forfeited any pension he may have recieved. We'll probably have to support him through his prixon and poverty in later years.

[belab13]

22. Just a scaled down version of the Federal Reserve

Increase money supply at a 7-8% per annum clip and distribute in whatever direction you like.

[TroubleMan]

23. Every inch of a casino is under close camera scrutiny.

It's the worse place that I can think of to try to pass fake money. LOL...should have just bought money orders at a different convenience stores, and then cashed them in.