MESA, Ariz. (AP) - An Arizona man charged with printing his own money is denying the accusation, saying someone paid him in the fake bills.
KPHO-TV reports (https://bit.ly/2jDVpBr ) that police say 53-year-old Michael Provencher of Mesa was treating real money with a chemical to erase the ink and using templates to print the bills with larger denominations. He was also charged with violating his probation.
Court documents say officers found counterfeit bills in plain sight inside Provencher’s bedroom after following up on information provided by Provencher’s roommate and his apartment complex manager.
Provencher told reporters that he fixed someone’s bike and was paid in the counterfeit bills. He said he did not immediately realize the money was fake.
The arresting officer described Provencher’s assertion that someone gave him the phony bills as “not credible.”
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Information from: The Arizona Republic, https://www.azcentral.com
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