A Peruvian woman has been charged with smuggling over $1.2 million in counterfeit $100 bills through Boston’s Logan Airport.
Alejandrina Elsa Quispe Ramirez, 47, was arrested yesterday and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of delivering counterfeit currency and one count of importing counterfeit currency into the U.S.
According to the complaint, Quispe Ramirez would be traveling to the U.S. on July 11, 2016, carrying a large amount of counterfeit U.S. currency concealed in her luggage.
Federal agents confirmed that Quispe Ramirez’s younger son had previously been a patient of Shriners Hospital for Children, but he was not scheduled to return to the hospital until at least November 2016.
As alleged in the complaint, on July 11, 2016, Quispe Ramirez landed at Boston’s Logan Airport and federal agents confirmed that U.S. currency was concealed inside the luggage.
Agents followed Quispe Ramirez as she took a taxi from Logan Airport to Somerville, and then transferred to a Mazda SUV with Pennsylvania license plates driven by another man.
Agents allegedly stopped the vehicle after the driver made an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street and found approximately 140 spindles each with $85,000 in counterfeit $100 notes.
In total, the three bags contained approximately $1,212,200 in counterfeit currency.
Each charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and other officials announced the charges today.
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Key Facts
- State: Massachusetts
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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