$20,000 in New Bills Reported Missing From Printing Bureau

The government is missing $20,000 in newly printed bills, less than a month after $40,000 apparently was stolen from a shipment to a federal reserve bank.

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin sent a terse memo Monday to Larry Rolufs, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Eljay Bowron, director of the Secret Service, saying the two apparent thefts are “of great concern to me.”

Rubin ordered Rolufs to explain the “theft of currency” in both cases to his deputy on Wednesday, and to detail within three weeks what steps the bureau has made to improve security.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing found out about the missing $20,000 Monday, said Treasury spokesman Howard Schloss.

The Secret Service and the bureau are investigating, he added.

Schloss said the currency was discovered missing while employees were preparing a cash shipment for a federal reserve bank in Philadelphia. Schloss said he couldn’t provide other details or comment on whether authorities are investigating whether the two incidents are linked. In both cases the money was found missing before shipments left Washington.

In the first instance, the government discovered $40,000 missing on Nov. 17 from a cash shipment set for a federal reserve bank in Minneapolis. The Secret Service and the bureau are continuing that investigation.

Last year, Robert P. Schmitt Jr., a bureau employee, was charged with stealing $1.7 million after officials at banks in Maryland tipped off investigators that he had made numerous deposits of crisp $100 bills.