Forgery Alleged at Hollypark : Horse racing: An employee is accused of substituting phony $100 bills for real money while counting track’s receipts.

A Hollywood Park employee who tried to pass $100 bills made on a color copier was arrested this week in an alleged forgery scheme that could have cost the Inglewood track thousands of dollars.

Michael G. Sanzaro, 41, of Vista was arrested at the track Sunday after local and federal investigators seized 143 office-machine copies of $100 bills, said Clint Howard, special agent in charge of the L.A. district of the U.S. Secret Service.

Authorities said Sanzaro substituted phony bills for real money while counting receipts in the track’s money room. The money room is the central clearinghouse for all cash exchanges at the track.

Investigators found 49 fake bills in Hollywood Park’s account-office receipts, and $4,900 in $100 bills on Sanzaro. An additional 94 copied bills were found in Sanzaro’s car, Howard said.

Hollywood Park officials said authorities questioned employees from the money room for about seven hours after the close of Sunday races to investigate the allegations.

“Once we noticed that he had counterfeit bills, we immediately called the Secret Service and local police,” said Alex Augusta, director of security and operations for Hollywood Park. “I’m happy to say all the money was recovered. This is an isolated incident and involved only one person.”

Investigators said the confiscated copies were easy to detect. “This was not deceptive counterfeiting,” Howard said.

Track security was informed of the situation Sunday by an employee who noticed the phony bills. Officials said they did not know whether this was the first time such a scheme was attempted.

No charges have been filed against Sanzaro, who is free after posting $5,000 bail. His arraignment is set for Jan. 6. Inglewood police said they are continuing their investigation, which could lead to a counterfeiting charge.

If so, the case would be handled by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

In addition, Sanzaro’s state license was suspended pending the outcome of his trial and a California Horse Racing Board investigation.

Sanzaro could not be reached for comment.

Times Associate Sports Editor John Cherwa contributed to this story.