RCMP and the U.S. Secret Service allege one man managed to break out of an Alberta prison in November and accumulate over $75,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency before being re-arrested in Surrey March 4.
Police announced Wednesday 29-year-old fugitive Nathan Paolinelli is to be returned to Alberta after authorities followed a fake money trail to the Lower Mainland in January.
Paolinelli’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Stacey Scharf, was also arrested and faces counterfeit-related charges.
A search of the couple’s north Surrey apartment turned up counterfeit cash, forged postal keys, stolen IDs and dozens of fake credit cards.
It was not known exactly how much counterfeit currency the suspects allegedly produced and used over the course of their spree.
“It’s a decent counterfeit,” said David Thompson of the U.S. Secret Service of the seized US$100 notes. “When you look at some of the qualities and colours and other counterfeits we come across, this is pretty good.”
RCMP commercial crime Sgt. Tim Kreiter said 21 per cent of the fake U.S. currency that is seized across Canada is from B.C. and that criminals use the notes because Canadians are less familiar with the watermarks and safety features used to authenticate legitimate bills.
“Most counterfeit bank notes are easily identifiable if people just take the time to examine them,” Kreiter said. “[Criminals] most likely take advantage of the community’s lack of knowledge of what true counterfeits look like.”
