Quick, which denominations of U.S. paper currency do not feature an engraving of a U.S. president? If you answered the $10 bill (which has a likeness of Alexander Hamilton) and the $100 bill (Benjamin Franklin), you are among the people a Rhode Island counterfeiter would have wise to consult before printing a batch of bogus $100 bills.
Instead the crook, 29-year-old Dana T. Leland of Pawtucket, relied on his memory, and now he’s paying the price. According to the website of The Sun Chronicle, Leland attempted to pass C-notes with Abraham Lincoln’s face on them on at a Target store in Attleboro, Mass. Shortly after he left with his merchandise and change—about $75—a clerk noticed the problem with the funny money and phoned the police.
The suspect was picked up a short time later back across the line in Rhode Island and was arraigned Wednesday in Attleboro District Court. Leland, who has a history of similar crimes, was ordered held on $1,000 cash bail or $10,000 surety despite pleading innocent to three counts of possession of a counterfeit note.
His attorney, Lynn Porecca, told the judge that her client was struggling with drug and alcohol problems and untreated mental health issues. She said that after a lengthy period of sobriety he had recently suffered a relapse. She didn’t clarify whether it was his intemperance that had resulted in his swapping out the face of Lincoln for Franklin’s.
There is no report on whether the court accepted bail in the form of cash and, if they did, whether they checked the bills carefully.
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