School Kids Caught Counterfeiting Dollars

from yahoo

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A 12-year-old Seattle school student and his buddies were caught after counterfeiting $20 in one-dollar bills that were circulated among the students and used in the cafeteria to buy food, school officials said on Friday.

"On Monday, our lunchroom staff was counting the till at the end of the day and noticed that there was a dollar bill that looked a little bit different," said Seattle School District spokeswoman Patti Spencer.

The next day, a sixth-grade student who offered a fake dollar to buy beef jerky led school officials to a fellow sixth-grader who had made the money using a computer and a printer. Those two and another friend had also passed the counterfeit dollar bills onto other students.

The school's assistant principal notified the Seattle Police Department, which recovered eight of the counterfeit bills, said Seattle Police Department spokeswoman Deborah Brown.

Police are still investigating and will forward the results to a local prosecutor, Brown said.

The three boys received a stern lecture and were suspended for five days, Spencer said.

The U.S. Secret Service, which is responsible for investigating counterfeit crimes, said on its Web site that counterfeiting U.S. currency is a crime punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to 15 years, or both.