No Prison Time for Counterfeiters

Two women charged with manufacturing counterfeit bills and passing them at the Bridgepointe Shopping Center Target store pleaded no contest in superior court and received jail time and probation.

Leticia Haynes, 32, of San Francisco avoided state prison time by pleading no contest Friday to felony charges of burglary and fraud. She received a sentence of 60 days in county jail with three years’ probation.

San Pablo woman Danielle Mark, also 32, pleaded no contest to an added count of misdemeanor burglary and was placed on 18 months’ probation. She will serve 21 days in county jail.

San Mateo Police said that on Dec. 6, Haynes made several trips to the San Mateo chain store, leaving bogus bills in denominations of $50 and $100 at the register with each transaction. Alerted to a possible fraud shortly after 2 p.m. Tuesday, police, working with the U.S. Secret Service, arrested Haynes, then Mark whom they discovered in the parking lot and identified as Haynes’ driver and accomplice.

Detectives seized an undisclosed number of bills. Secret Service Agents discovered and appropriated equipment used to produce the fake cash at the women’s home.

Counterfeiting currency can draw a sentence of up to 15 years.