Boise Man Admits To Passing Counterfeit $50 Notes

BOISE – William W. Hanson, 35, of Boise, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to one count of passing counterfeit obligations and securities, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Hanson was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boise on April 10, 2013.

According to the plea agreement, on March 26, 2013, Hanson passed a counterfeit $50 Federal Reserve Note at a restaurant in Cambridge, Idaho. Hanson admitted to knowing the note was in fact a $5 note that had been bleached and printed to look like a $50 note. Later that day, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hanson in possession of four additional $5 notes that were bleached and reprinted to look like $50 notes. A subsequent investigation found that prior to his arrest, beginning on approximately March 10, Hanson passed 35 similar counterfeit $50 notes in Burley, Twin Falls, Boise, Garden City, Nampa, Eden, Horseshoe Bend, Donnelly, McCall, New Meadows, Council, and Cambridge, Idaho. Hanson agreed to pay restitution to the victims.

The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

Sentencing is set for August 26, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Boise.

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.