ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: |Associated Press
MYSTERY SURROUNDS the missing $60,000 at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. But this isn't the first such incident.
The money is still green at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, but the faces are red at the agency that prides itself on producing the world's most coveted currency.
Twice in the past month, batches of newly printed bills have gone missing - a total of $60,000. The Secret Service is investigating, and if there are any suspects, no one is saying publicly.
Officials at the bureau, where round-the-clock surveillance cameras are on the lookout for anything unusual, are stung by the apparent thievery.
``It's a breach of faith. It's the worst thing we can think of,'' said one official who requested anonymity.
The bureau stresses the importance of security during tours of its printing facility, which attracts more than 600,000 visitors each year. The building, less than a mile from the White House, has a fortress-like aura, at least from the inside.
It is heavily guarded by the bureau's own uniformed guards. Visitors view the printing process from a narrow, elevated walkway separated by glass partitions from the workers and machines below.
In each 24-hour day, the agency produces 192,000 sheets of U.S. currency, 32 bills per sheet. That comes to about $110 billion a year in greenbacks that around the globe are considered as good as gold.
The government proudly announced in September that it was launching the first overhaul of its currency in 70 years, adding security features to thwart counterfeiters. The makeover starts with the $100 bill, but the green and black colors will remain
To the casual observer, it is hard to imagine how anyone could make off with piles of bills when their every movement is carefully controlled and scrutinized.
But the latest cases of missing money are hardly the first - or worst - theft for the 133-year-old bureau.
In March, Robert P. Schmitt Jr., a $66,000-a-year engineer, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for stealing $1.6 million from the plant. Accorded security clearance, Schmitt was helping supervise production of trial bills in a test to improve anti-counterfeiting measures.
He admitted taking thousands of crisp $100 bills from a vault, stashing them in his briefcase and walking past guards as he left work one day in the spring of 1994.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. An unidentified Bureau of Engraving and Printingby CNBemployee works on $1 bills Wednesday. Bills take eight days to
produce.