After more than 30 years of working where money is made, David C. Faison decided to make some of it work for him, law enforcement officials say.He devised an elaborate moneymaking scheme involving a pair of scissors, 10 sheets of partially printed $100 bills from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and a three-state gambling spree, according to documents charging him with theft of government property.
Investigators say Faison, 56, of Largo stole the sheets of $100 bills from the bureau's printing facility in the District, cut them and passed at least 145 of the bills through slot machines in casinos in Delaware, New Jersey and West Virginia.
Yesterday Faison, a widower who lives with his brother, Daniel, declined to comment."What do I get out of it?" Faison said in response to a request for an interview.
Faison worked as a stock control recorder at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, distributing paper stock throughout the plant -- a job that gave him access to the plant's printing section.
Rich Delmar, counsel to the inspector general for the Treasury Department, which is working on the Faison case with the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said the scheme was "pretty rare. To my knowledge, I don't believe we've gotten any other reports of an incident like this," Delmar said.
During a two-month period, Faison allegedly used the partially printed bills at Midway Slots, Dover Downs Hotel & Casino and Delaware Park in Delaware, at Bally's and Trump Plaza in New Jersey and at Charles Town Races & Slots in West Virginia. Within 19 seconds one day last month, Faison allegedly inserted three $100 bills into machines at Midway Slots in Harrington, Del. He later received a cash ticket for $290. Delmar said officials at a couple of casinos realized that some of the partially printed bills had passed through their slot machines, and they contacted the Secret Service.
According to the charging documents, Faison took the sheets before they had gone through the full manufacturing process. The bills looked finished, but they had not been stamped with serial numbers or the Treasury seal. Each sheet contained 32 uncut bills, or $3,200.
Law enforcement officials searched through trash from the curb outside Faison's home last month, finding what appeared to be scraps from the cut bills. Investigators later confirmed that the "scraps of paper were scraps of specialized currency paper" used during the production process. Last week, investigators found some of the stolen sheets of bills hidden in wrapping paper in Faison's closet, according to the affidavit.
Peter Bradley, the general manager of slot operations at Dover Downs, said the casino received a tip from the Treasury Department that Faison might show up at the casino. "They gave us a description, and one day one of our surveillance folks picked him up," Bradley said. The casino made certain that the surveillance videotape of Faison was enough of a close-up to show that one of the $100 bills that Faison inserted into a slot machine did not have serial numbers or the Treasury seal, officials said. Dover Downs security later verified that Faison gambled with $400 that day and that all of the bills were partially printed."We were able to trace it back to him," Bradley said. "It was real good work on our folks' part, working with the Treasury Department. Just a good team effort."