$2,500 in Bogus Bills Found on Playground

Federal agents recovered $2,500 in “mediocre” counterfeit bills found “blowing in the Santa Ana winds” Wednesday on a playground at Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles, officials said.

“The quality of the bills, in denominations of $20s, $50s and $100s, were mediocre and nothing to shout about,” said Jim Miller, special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Los Angeles office. Students returned an additional $600 after the principal made an announcement, Miller said.

The money, found blowing around between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., “obviously didn’t appear out of the sky, but we don’t have any witnesses who saw it being dropped there,” he said.