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Kenneth L. Wainstein PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Former Bureau of Engraving and Printing Employee Pleads Guilty to Stealing $67,200 of Partially Printed $100 Bills
Washington, D.C. - A former Bureau of Engraving and Printing Employee, David C. Faison, has pleaded guilty to stealing 21 sheets of partially printed $100 bills with a face value of $67,200 from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (“BEP”), U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein, Inspector General Harold Damelin, U.S. Department of Treasury, and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office announced today.
Faison, 56, pleaded guilty this morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Paul L. Friedman to one count of Theft of Tools and Material for Counterfeiting Purposes. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison under the statute and a likely sentence of 6 to 12 months of incarceration pursuant to the federal sentencing guidelines. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 12, 2007.
According to the government’s evidence, between May 2006 and August 2, 2006, Faison, a stock control recorder at the BEP, stole 21 sheets of partially printed $100 bills, which were missing serial numbers and Department of Treasury Seals, from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Annex located within the District of Columbia. Each stolen sheet of $100 bills contained 32 $100 bills.
Faison transported the 21 sheets of $100 bills to his home in Largo, Maryland, where he hand cut at least 360 partially printed $100 bills. Thereafter, Faison drove to casinos in West Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey where he used casino slot machines which accepted $100 bills to launder and convert the partially printed $100 bills to currency. Casino video surveillance footage revealed that Faison converted the partially printed bills to completed currency by feeding the bills into slot machines, playing the slots for a period of time, and then causing the slot machines to issue tickets redeemable for cash at the casino cashier’s office.
A search of Faison’s residence and automobile revealed that Faison hid more than 9 sheets of $100 bills in a roll of wrapping paper contained in the closet of his bedroom. The searches also resulted in the discovery of heroin in an amount consistent with personal use.
In announcing today’s guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Wainstein, Inspector General Damelin, and Acting Assistant Director in Charge Persichini commended Office of Inspector General Special Agents Sean Hubbard (former), Karen Cottrell and Patrick Blake, and FBI Special Agent Frank D’Amico for their outstanding work in investigating the case. They also praised Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan R. Barr and David C. Woll, Jr., who investigated and prosecuted this matter, and Legal Assistants April Peeler, Lisa Robinson, and Teesha Tobias, who assisted in the investigation and prosecution.