A Tempe Home Depot employee, Adrian Jean Pineda, was arrested by Secret Service agents for passing $387,500 in counterfeit U.S. currency. Agents from the Phoenix Field Office arrested Pineda at the Home Depot in Tempe.
Pineda will appear in federal court in Phoenix for violation of 18 USC 472 – Uttering of Counterfeit U.S. Currency.
Pineda was a vault associate with Home Depot responsible for preparing cash from registers for bank deposits, a process that included counting cash and sealing cash bags for transfer and deposit to Wells Fargo Bank.
According to the criminal complaint, Pineda is accused of taking genuine currency from the Home Depot’s deposits and replacing the genuine currency with counterfeit currency during his shift. From January 2018 to January 2022, Home Depot recorded $387,500 in losses due to receiving counterfeit notes in their cash deposits.
During Pineda’s arrest on January 31, 2022, U.S. Secret Service agents seized $5,000 in counterfeit currency and recovered $5,300 in genuine currency. An additional $22,000 in genuine currency was recovered during the execution of a search warrant at Pineda’s residence.
Pineda is scheduled to appear for a status hearing in the District of Arizona Federal Courthouse Monday, Feb. 7, 2022.