An Edmonton Couple, Nathan Paolinelli and Stacey Scharf are facing counterfeiting related charges. Paolinelli four months ago skipped out of an Alberta jail while serving time for fraud and counterfeiting. The couple were arrested 4 March after police tailed them to a Surrey store where they were about to buy a product used to forge credit cards. The pair are also facing more drug and fraud charges after an investigation that involved the U.S. Secret Service. Most of the fakes were $100 US Dollar bills, but there were also some $20 and $50 notes.
Photograph by Handouts, RCMP: counterfeit U.S. dollar seized.
Police said their investigation into the couple began after fake currency was used in the Okanagan region.
"In December of 2009, a counterfeit note that's believed to have been passed by this duo was in Kelowna, British Columbia," said RCMP Const. Peter Neilly.
"So, we can assume they've been in B.C. for at least a month, by the looks of it."
"In December of 2009, a counterfeit note that's believed to have been passed by this duo was in Kelowna, British Columbia," said RCMP Const. Peter Neilly.
"So, we can assume they've been in B.C. for at least a month, by the looks of it."
Photograph by Handouts, RCMP: Equipment seized used by counterfeiters.
In Scharf's North Surrey apartment, police seized $75,000 in fake U.S. bills, eight grams of crystal meths, forged Canada Post keys, several computers and printers and specialized paper and tools commonly used for counterfeiting, as well as stolen Alberta driver's licences, Social Insurance Number cards and other credit, bank and gift cards, including a stack from Wal-Mart. The cards were kept in plastic index card holders covered in children's butterfly and star stickers. Labels were carefully printed in multi-coloured markers, indicating "blanks," "credit cards" and "random cards."
Source: theprovince.com, CBC Canada.
