BOSTON – A Quincy man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to counterfeiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. currency.
Victor Cardona, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of counterfeiting U.S. currency, specifically, $100 bills. U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Jan. 10, 2023. Cardona was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in October 2019 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2019.
During a search of Cardona’s residence in October 2019, federal agents found equipment and materials used to create counterfeit bills including inkjet printers, a shredder and a “counterfeit buster” detection pen. Agents also found four authentic $100 bills, the serial numbers of which were tied to counterfeit currency recovered from across the country. Burned remains of counterfeit currency were also located in Cardona’s backyard.
In total, Cardona produced, or participated in the production of, thousands of fake $100 bills that were identified as counterfeit, recovered by the U.S. Secret Service, and traced by serial number to the authentic bills found at Cardona’s residence. To date, the government has recovered over $467,000 in counterfeit $100 bills traced back to the authentic bills found at Cardona’s residence.
The charge of counterfeiting any currency of the United States provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Jonathan Davidson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Secret Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement. Many local police departments, in Massachusetts and elsewhere, provided valuable assistance with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam W. Deitch of Rollins’ Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting the case.