Newspaper Production Worker Denies Using Press to Make Counterfeit Bills
A production worker at a daily newspaper pleaded innocent Friday to charges of counterfeiting $20 bills on a small press at the paper.
Charles M. Pickett, 24, was ordered held on $2,000 bail after his arrest during the overnight shift while workers prepared Friday’s edition of the Middlesex News.
Pickett, 24, pleaded innocent to one count of making, altering or forging counterfeit bills and one count of possession of tools and materials for making counterfeit bills, said Court Clerk Anthony Colonna.
The first charge carries a sentence up to life imprisonment while the charge regarding tools carries a sentence of up to 10 years.
Pickett, who worked at the newspaper since June, also could face federal charges, said Stewart J. Henry, spokesman for the Boston office of the U.S. Secret Service.
A pretrial conference was scheduled for Dec. 12.
Friday’s edition of the Middlesex News, reported that a negative and printing plate with $20 bill images on them were thrown into a waste basket in clear view of other employees.
“Anyone who would use a newspaper press of any kind, even a small one like this, which is a glorified mimeograph machine, is not too swift,” Editor Kenneth Hartnett said in an interview.
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