Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge Casino Site of Fake $100 Bill, Secret Service Investigates

Posted on: March 10, 2022, 11:29h. 

Last updated on: March 11, 2022, 10:11h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More

Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A suspected fake $100 bill was discovered last weekend at Pennsylvania’s Valley Forge Casino Resort. State police were notified, and the bill was sent to the Secret Service for inspection.

It is unclear who may have passed the counterfeit bill at the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania venue, reported the Sanatoga Post, a local newspaper.

State troopers revealed the bill lacked “security features,” the Post said, without providing details. These should have been embedded in the bill, the report adds. It had the serial number “C84461826A.”

This is not the first time suspected counterfeit bills were passed at casinos in Pennsylvania.

Earlier Counterfeit Operation

In December 2020, four Philadelphia residents were charged for allegedly passing $16,000 in counterfeit bills at casinos in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in April 2019. These include 20 counterfeit $100 bills passed at Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack in Chester.

Those arrested include Mahagany White, 33, Marcus Davis, 44, Nieem Johnson, 37, and Kiara Kristin Purnell, 31. Each was charged with forgery, theft by deception, possessing instruments of crime, and conspiracy, according to the Delaware County Daily Times, a regional newspaper. It was not immediately clear what happened to these charges in local court.

It was alleged the defendants circulated fake bills at SugarHouse Casino — now known as Rivers Casino Philadelphia — in April 2019. There were 18 fake $100 bills. Each had the same serial number. White and Purnell allegedly passed the fake bills at two Spanish21 Blackjack tables.

That same month, Johnson allegedly attempted to pass fake bills at Hard Rock Cafe Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. But a dealer contacted a gaming floor supervisor. Casino security guards were notified.

In April, a suspected counterfeiting operation was found in a guest room at the Extended Stay America Hotel in Philadelphia. Police claim the printing scheme made $1 bills look like $100 bills. They were bleached and then altered through a printing process. But each of the bills had the same serial number.

Threat of Fake Bills Evolves

On its website, the Secret Service said the threat of counterfeit US currency to the US financial system “continues to evolve. Advances in technology, the availability of scanning and printing devices, and the adoption of the US dollar by nations as their legal tender have exacerbated the global threat.”