Ohio Counterfeiters Ripped Off Stores In 3 States: DOJ

CLEVELAND — Two Ohio men have been sentenced to prison for using counterfeit money to rip off stores throughout Northeast Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The pair passed more than $38,000 in counterfeit bills to stores, the Department of Justice said.

Tori Smith, 35, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison and Allyn Bell, 32, was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday. A third man, Robert Peters, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced later this year for his role in the crimes. All three men are from Akron.

“These defendants traveled across several states ripping off businesses,” U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said.

According to court documents, Smith, Bell and Peters worked together between April 2017 and April 2018 to use counterfeit $100 bills to buy items. They would sometimes return their purchases for cash. The trio targeted businesses in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.

On April 6, 2017, Bell used four counterfeit $100 bills to buy merchandise at a Dick's Sporting Goods in Butler, Pennsylvania. Two days later, Bell went to a Dick's Sporting Goods in Mentor, Ohio and returned the items he purchased for cash, court documents said.

Peters passed $700 in counterfeit bills on April 27, 2017, at a Kohl's in State College, Pennsylvania. The next day, he returned one of his purchases at a Kohl's in Macedonia, Ohio, and received $409 in cash, the indictment said.

More than 20 purchases using counterfeit money were made by Bell, Peters and Smith between April 2017 and April 2018, court documents said.

The trio were investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, which investigates all matters involving counterfeit currency.

"These defendants were part of a ring that passed over $38,000 in counterfeit currency in Northeast Ohio and multiple other states,” said Jonathan E. Schuck, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Secret Service’s Cleveland office. “They used counterfeit money to purchase not only merchandise like electronics and clothes but also paid for gas, food and hotel rooms with counterfeit currency, taking advantage of local businesses. This was a complex case that could not have been solved without the assistance from many other local and state police departments.”