The Region - News from June 3, 1987

Two men who claimed that they conducted a multimillion-dollar counterfeit operation in order to save their Idaho hometown from economic depression were sentenced to prison by U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk in Los Angeles. Wick Helmandollar, 40, was sentenced to two years and Harold Cooper, 56, to one year in federal prison after being convicted of possessing and distributing $3.7 million in high-quality counterfeit bills that Treasury Department agents said were part of what may have been the largest single counterfeit operation in U.S. history. Lawyers for Helmandollar and Cooper said the pair acted in order to bring needed cash into Salmon, Ida., where there have been economic problems following loss of the community’s mining industry. The lawyers said their clients intended to sell the counterfeit currency abroad and bring needed revenues back into the community.