A Home Depot in Peachtree City, Ga., is shown. File Photo courtesy of Tony Bernard/
Wikimedia Commons
Feb. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Secret Service agents have arrested a Home Depot employee for an alleged scheme involving nearly $400,000 in counterfeit money bearing the word "PLAYMONEY" rather than real serial numbers.
Adrian Jean Pineda, who worked as a vault associate in Tempe, Ariz., has been accused of swapping genuine currency from Home Depot's deposits with counterfeit currency during his shift, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday. From 2018 to this past month, the company recorded $387,500 in losses from the alleged swap.
Pineda was arrested on Monday when Secret Service agents recovered $5,300 in genuine currency and seized $5,000 in counterfeit currency. During a subsequent search of his residence, agents recovered an additional $22,000 in genuine currency.
"At the Home Depot, Pineda was observed on video surveillance camera on at least 16 occasions removing what appears to be paper currency resembling FRB notes from a wallet located on his personal cell phone," the complaint reads.
"Pineda would place the paper currency from his wallet into stacks of the money that he was counting that came from the deposits that originated from the store registers."
He would then put the stack of bills through a money counter up to a certain number of notes, leaving the extra cash in the machine -- which he would then crumple into his fist and stuff in his pocket, the complaint reads.
Law enforcement agents found that the "PLAYMONEY" had been purchased on Amazon, where it had been described as "fake money that looks like real for party decorations and videos."
Pineda has been released from custody on the promise that he returns to court and is set to appear Monday for a hearing in the District of Arizona Federal Courthouse, court documents show.
He admitted to stealing the real cash in a written statement as part of an internal investigation conducted by Home Depot, the complaint reads.
"The Secret Service was originally formed in 1865 to enforce federal laws against counterfeiting," said Frank Boudreaux Jr., special agent in charge at the agency's field office in Phoenix., in a statement.
"This case illustrates the continued commitment of the Secret Service and the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigating and prosecuting counterfeit violations."
