Jay Leno on a $100 bill?
Bogus bill found in Fort Myers may have star's image
BY JEFF CULL jcull@florida-weekly.com

LENO

A bogus $100 bill turned up in Fort Myers last week and bank tellers and a customer agreed: The watermark image imbedded in the currency looked like TV host Jay Leno.

"It looked just like him," said Michelle Hall, an employee of Salty Sam's Marina on Fort Myers Beach.

Hall had taken several bills to Wachovia Bank at the corner of Winkler and Summerlin roads on Friday, Sept. 21 to change them into smaller bills. She said she used a special pen designed to detect counterfeit bills and all the bills passed the test.

However, tellers at the bank said one of the bills felt thinner than normal. That's when they held the C-note up to the light to read the imbedded watermark. It should have been Benjamin Franklin's image but Leno's distinctive mug popped out.

"She (the teller) said it was Jay Leno," Hall reported, adding that two other tellers confirmed it: the star of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" had joined the pantheon of now seemingly butt-ugly dead white males who starred in the 18th and 19th century history of the United States.

Perhaps George Washington ($1), Abraham Lincoln ($5), Alexander Hamilton ($10), Andrew Jackson ($20), Ulysses S. Grant ($50) and even good old Ben Franklin have had to make room for an illegal immigrant to the face of American money, and one who remains alive, no less - Mr. Jay Leno.

Officials at the Leno show would not comment on the discovery. They expressed no opinions about how this news could affect the immigration debate, nor did they volunteer any revelations about a potential run for the presidency by Leno. He would join Republicans Ronald Reagan (the late and 40th president, who appears on no American greenback), and Fred Thompson (not so late, and a mere candidate, also minus the nod of honor on an American bill) as an actor-turnedpolitician - that is, if he announces a bid for the high office, and by extension, the face of American legal tender.

But Leno officials asked to be kept informed of the story.

Bank officials, citing security reasons, would not confirm that the bill's watermark resembled Leno and would not allow the tellers to be interviewed by Florida Weekly.

Wachovia spokesperson Christine Shaw, at the bank's headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., confirmed that the bank branch in Fort Myers had received a counterfeit $100 bill. "It was turned over to authorities," she said.

The U.S. Secret Service, the agency responsible for currency security, said they'd never heard of a Jay Leno image on a bill.

"That's a first," said John Joyce, special agent in charge of the Tampa office of the U.S. Secret Service. "I'd be curious to see it."

Joyce, who hadn't seen the bill as of Florida Weekly's press time - it had been mailed to their office from the bank - said the Leno image may just be a matter of interpretation.

"We get a lot of counterfeit bills from Columbia," he said. "They simulate the watermark - it's often what looks like a cartoon picture of Benjamin Franklin."

Joyce also said the special pens used to determine if a bill is genuine are not always accurate.

The iodine-based pen turns black (meaning the bill is counterfeit) when it hits a starch. That's what's found in paper products. U.S. paper currency, Joyce said, is made of high-quality cloth. When the pen hits real bills it shows a light brown color.

"For it to not turn black they would have had to have used pretty good paper," he said.

That's what the Columbian counterfeiters may be using, Joyce said.

"They run offset printing presses and they use high-quality paper that doesn't register with the pen." ¦ How To Tell If It's Counterfeit (as of Florida Weekly's press time):

>>PORTRAIT Genuine: Face appears lifelike. It stands out sharply from the fine screen background of regular, unbroken lines. Lines in the face, hair, and clothing are distinct.

Counterfeit: Lines are blurred and may blend into the background, which itself may be too light or dark. Face and eyes may appear lifeless.

>>PAPER Genuine: Special, very high quality rag paper with small red and blue threads throughout is used. It has a distinctive texture and color.

Counterfeit: Paper may feel different or may be a different white than genuine paper. Red and blue lines may be drawn on to imitate the fibers.

>>SEAL Genuine: Saw tooth points are sharp and evenly spaced.

Counterfeit: Saw tooth points may be broken, blunt, or uneven. Seal may also be unclear.

>>SERIAL NUMBER Genuine: Figures are sharp and evenly spaced. On Federal Reserve Notes, the prefix letter agrees with the District letter in the seal.

Counterfeit: Poor impression may make the numbers too light or dark, or may be blurred. May also be unevenly spaced or out-of-line.

>>BORDER Genuine: Scroll work has fine crisscrossing lines which are sharp and unbroken.

Counterfeit: Lines may be blurred and are often broken. >>What To Do If You Find One… • Do not return it to the passer. Keep it and write your name and the date on it so you can identify it later. • Notify the nearest Secret Service office or police. • Record who gave it to you along with where and when you got it. If you can, write down a description of the person who passed it, as well as information such as the license number of any vehicle used.

>>What Happens Next? The counterfeit will be confiscated by the Treasury Department to remove it from circulation, and as evidence in the event of prosecution of both the counterfeiters and the counterfeit passers. This means that the discoverer loses the face value of the counterfeit turned in. Anyone who is convicted of passing counterfeit currency can receive up to 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine up to $10,000. Thus it is wiser to turn in a counterfeit bill, rather than try to pass it on to someone else. Only when everyone in the economy is concerned and willing to do their part in maintaining the currency's integrity will the circulation of counterfeits be stopped…and our currency's value insured.

>>Speaking Of Counterfeits…Did You Know? • that more than half of a bill is considered legal tender?

• that only the front of a dollar bill is valuable? If you were able to separate the front of a bill from the back, only the front half would be considered "money"

• That until 1929 our currency measured 7.42 x 3.13 inches. Since then currency has measured 6.14 x 2.61 inches-an easier size to handle and store.

Source: Bankersonline