10 Arrests Are Made in O.C. Counterfeit Ring

Ten members of an alleged counterfeit ring based in Orange County were arrested Friday on suspicion of passing about $7.5 million in phony $100 bills printed in Mexico.

U.S. Secret Service agents began their investigation this year when a counterfeit bill was passed at a local mall, Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert J. Keenan said. A federal grand jury in Santa Ana charged 13 defendants in six indictments issued Wednesday; two of them are fugitives and one is in state prison awaiting transfer to U.S. custody.

Keenan said the fraudulent bills were of “high quality and with a lot of the security features” used in notes printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Authorities said defendants Jose Carlos Gonzalez-Moreno and Juan Jose Gomez, both of whom live in Santa Ana, obtained the bogus currency from associates in Mexico and arranged for the bills to be brought to Orange County. The counterfeit notes were then passed to distributors who sold them, federal officials said.

Keenan said the ring distributed $7.5 million of the bills this year nationwide.

Secret Service agents seized more than $500,000 in bills during the investigations, U.S. officials said.

Mexican law enforcement officials raided a “manufacturing plant” Friday afternoon in Leon, Guanajuato, where the bills were printed, and made numerous arrests, Keenan said.