By Associated Press
Buffalo, NY – Three people have been charged as part of an operation that flooded Toronto's subway system with American-made counterfeit tokens, authorities said Friday.
A Jamaican gang known as the Five Points Gang is believed to have hired a Massachusetts manufacturer to produce the fake Toronto Transit Commission tokens, said Peter Ahearn, special agent in charge of the FBI in Buffalo.
The tokens were shipped from Massachusetts to Niagara Falls, smuggled across the border by runners and sold on the streets of Toronto, he said.
Since late 2004, officials estimate more than five million tokens worth $10 million were produced and shipped.
Andrea Nicole Dawson of North York, Ontario, appeared in U.S. District Court in Buffalo Friday, a day after her arrest in Niagara Falls, where she had traveled to pick up four boxes of tokens to bring back to Canada, Ahearn said.
Investigators recovered more than 500,000 tokens at two Niagara Falls addresses.
Dawson, who was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, told investigators she was paid between $300 and $500 for each trip she made to pick up tokens, according to court documents.
Toronto law enforcement officers arrested two other Canadian citizens believed to be involved in the operation a week ago. Details of the arrests were not released. Charges against an unidentified Niagara Falls man Ahearn described as "a broker and middleman" were pending.
The Massachusetts company, which produces casino chips and other tokens, apparently was not aware it was producing illegal tokens, said Ahearn, who declined to identify the company.
Investigators "are going to look into whether or not there were any kind of regulations or requirements to ask if somebody comes and says 'mint something' ... That part of the investigation is going to continue," he said.
The Toronto Transit Commission estimated about 40 percent of tokens in use are counterfeit, Ahearn said.
Authentic tokens are made by the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa and have a face value of $2.50. They are sold in packs of 10 for $2 per token.