Home Depot employee arrested in Arizona, accused of passing nearly $400,000 in counterfeit cash
Secret Service agents arrested a Home Depot employee in Tempe, Arizona Monday after he was suspected of passing $387,500 in counterfeit U.S. currency.
Adrian Jean Pineda was arrested at Home Depot on suspicion of taking genuine currency from the store he works at and replacing it with counterfeit currency, according to the Secret Service.
Home Depot reported the losses happened from 2018 to 2022.
Pineda worked as a vault associate. His job involved counting and bagging money from the store's cash registers to be transferred to Wells Fargo Bank for deposit, the Secret Service said.
"(The) arrest and search warrant operation marked the culmination of a strategic investigation enacted by Phoenix special agents, Home Depot security personnel and Wells Fargo Bank," said Phoenix Field Office Special Agent in Charge Frank Boudreaux Jr., in a statement.
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At the time of the arrest, agents seized $5,000 in counterfeit currency and found $5,300 in genuine currency. An additional $22,000 in genuine currency was recovered at Pineda’s home, the Secret Service said.
Pineda is scheduled to appear in federal court in Phoenix on Feb. 7.
Follow breaking news intern Jane Florance at on Twitter @Florance_Jane.