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Five Lodi residents face federal charges in $500,000 counterfeiting ring
An Army National Guard member was among five Lodi residents arrested Thursday in connection with a counterfeit ring that passed nearly $500,000 in fake bills.
Joseph DeAnda
The fraudulent $100 bills have been found in Iraq, where suspect Joseph DeAnda was deployed, as well as Lodi, Jackson, Mexico and several states, Lodi Police Detective Eric Bradley said. Investigators suspect much of the fake money was moved through casinos for real cash.
All five suspects had been arrested last summer, but the case was delayed once investigators realized how much money was involved and the Secret Service decided to take over. Bradley said an agent told him that "it's probably one of the largest counterfeit operations that the Valley has seen in a long time."
Federal prosecutors took the case to a grand jury, which handed down indictments on Feb. 5. Lodi police and the Secret Service arrested four of the five suspects Thursday; the fifth suspect is already in state prison on unrelated matters.
Tami DeAnda
Arrested were DeAnda, 46; his wife, Tami Kishi DeAnda, 41; Shelie Louise Radotic, 30; and Holly Armada Haworth, 29.
They were arraigned Thursday in federal court and all are being held without bail in the Sacramento County Jail.
The fifth suspect, Clinton Earl Irons, 32, has previous forgery and drug-related cases.
Holly Haworth
Another woman who had been arrested in July was not indicted in the current case. She previously told the News-Sentinel that she tore up a counterfeit $100 bill once she learned it was fake.
The five current suspects are all charged with conspiracy, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the indictment filed in U.S. Eastern District Court. They also face other charges ranging from counterfeiting to passing fake bills, charges that can carry up to 20 years in prison.
Most of the money was made by turning $5 bills into $100 bills, police said.
The indictment alleges that the counterfeiting began Jan. 7, 2004, and continued through July 15, 2008, the day of the initial arrests.
Clinton Irons
The case came to light in early July, when a man tried to pass a fake $100 bill at Lowe's in Lodi, Detective Sgt. Tod Patterson said in July. The transaction was captured on surveillance video, and police recognized the suspect as Irons, whom they knew was wanted on warrants.
That led to a search warrant at a Scottsdale Road home, where police found fake bills, along with computers containing counterfeiting software, Patterson said at the time.
Detective Nick Sareeram continued investigating, and the total of fake bills began to add up.
Bills were found in Jackson, and police suspect some of the money was being moved through the casino there, Bradley said. He noted that most of the suspects didn't have jobs, but that they had gambling cards in their possession.
Shelie Radotic
Once the Secret Service got involved, agents looked beyond state lines, and found bills in other states and Mexico, Bradley said.
Joseph DeAnda, a nine-year military veteran, returned from Iraq in June with the rank of specialist, so agents looked overseas — where they found several fake bills, Bradley said.
The final total of fraudulent money is not known. Bradley noted that fake bills sometimes make it past store clerks and even bank tellers, until unsuspecting customers learn they are holding worthless pieces of paper.
Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.
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Reader Feedback
slave4now wrote on Feb 21, 2009 3:13 PM:
with passing fake bill out there
in jackson "
notfromlodi wrote on Feb 19, 2009 9:11 PM:
irrepressible wrote on Feb 19, 2009 7:22 PM:
popeye wrote on Feb 18, 2009 4:16 PM:
notfromlodi wrote on Feb 18, 2009 7:02 AM:
As for bailing them out, that is what I would like to know. What idiot is condoning this behavior????and again, where are their kids?????This is ridiculous. "
stuck in Lodi.Ca. wrote on Feb 17, 2009 11:03 PM:
LodiJoe wrote on Feb 17, 2009 10:45 AM:
irrepressible wrote on Feb 15, 2009 12:50 PM:
irrepressible wrote on Feb 15, 2009 12:47 PM:
notfromlodi wrote on Feb 15, 2009 7:39 AM:
HAHAHA wrote on Feb 14, 2009 4:59 PM:
irrepressible wrote on Feb 14, 2009 3:24 PM:
popeye wrote on Feb 14, 2009 2:06 PM:
shadow1 wrote on Feb 13, 2009 10:44 PM:
S & W 500 wrote on Feb 13, 2009 10:24 PM:
Enjoy jail! "
loadeye wrote on Feb 13, 2009 9:01 PM:
Dbeal wrote on Feb 13, 2009 6:35 PM:
My brother dated Holly and from the moment I met her I knew she was a "LOOSER". I sure am glad he dropped her like a bad habbit! All I can say Is I hope she gets what she deserves, not only is she a drug addict and a counterfeit, she is a thief!
Way to go LPD!!!! Now if we can only do something about the "meth" problem in Lodi! I sure am glad I got out of that state!!! "
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Feb 13, 2009 4:51 PM:
More smears and innuendo's suggesting that city hall has embezzled money and is running it through a Lodi (local?) bank.
Unless you've got proof to take to the Grand Jury stop you blatant talking and cranial rectalitis.
It is old and predictable. "
loadeye wrote on Feb 13, 2009 3:34 PM:
wtf wrote on Feb 13, 2009 2:46 PM:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/09/MN2D15J4HD.DTL
The following from "Give Obama a Chance"
I am smart enough to know that the fatal flaw in the debt-based Federal Reserve System is that the moment it went into operation more money is owed than is actually in existence.
I am smart enough to know that when the Federal Reserve cannot find more and more people to pledge themselves to a loan in order to create new money that the pyramid will collapse as it collapsing now.
I am smart enough to realize that each new bailout thus creates more interest debt, meaning that We The People owe the federal Reserve even more money that does not actually exist.
http://www.heyokamagazine.com/heyoka_magazine.26.mikerivero.htm "
wtf wrote on Feb 13, 2009 2:27 PM:
"Its not surprising that arguments against the Fed are finally resonating. Since the crisis began in 2007, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke has engaged in all manner of emergency activity, much of it unprecedented and of such dubious legality that even some of those who may reject or be unfamiliar with arguments against the Fed have begun to wonder about the unaccountable power this institution wields over the economy."
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/feb/09/00016/ "
Mrs. S. wrote on Feb 13, 2009 2:10 PM:
wtf wrote on Feb 13, 2009 2:07 PM:
Came across the following article and the quote below it is priceless!
US banks under pressure from forensic hit-teams
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/12/us-bank-bailout
This is going to make Enron look like a high school math error. "
danielH wrote on Feb 13, 2009 1:58 PM:
danielH wrote on Feb 13, 2009 1:47 PM:
wtf wrote on Feb 13, 2009 1:35 PM:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-833 "
wtf wrote on Feb 13, 2009 1:33 PM:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-833
And bring back **real** money that has worth!
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1234543800.php "
wtf wrote on Feb 13, 2009 11:55 AM:
LOL! I was thinking at the Federal Reserve. ;)
Layla's article ends: "...until unsuspecting customers learn they are holding worthless pieces of paper."
This gave me a chuckle...if Bernanke keeps those printing presses running the way he is; ALL of our "dollars" will be worthless pieces of paper.
I wonder if, now they've caught these guys, they'll find out whatever happened to that $2.3 trillion that went missing from the Pentagon on September 10, 2001.
http://benfrank.net/patriots/news/national/pentagon_missing_trillions "
Whoa Nellie! wrote on Feb 13, 2009 11:44 AM:
I knew their older brother since Reese Elem and see him around town occasionally, and he is a stand-up good guy. "
JD wrote on Feb 13, 2009 11:30 AM:
Sounds like these guys have a promising future in the Obama administration. "
HAHAHA wrote on Feb 13, 2009 10:47 AM:
HAHAHA wrote on Feb 13, 2009 10:44 AM:
loadeye wrote on Feb 13, 2009 8:39 AM:
edumacation wrote on Feb 13, 2009 7:38 AM:
LodiJoe wrote on Feb 13, 2009 5:14 AM:
Mad Dog wrote on Feb 13, 2009 3:16 AM:
Comments on this story are now closed.