June 30, 1999
Web posted at: 7:15 PM EDT (2315 GMT)

From CNN Producer Ted Barrett

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Maryland man was indicted Wednesday for stealing $8,662 in cash from the federal agency that prints it and stashing it behind tiles in two different men's bathrooms -- along with his I.D. badge.

The theft occurred at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing -- located in the shadow of the Washington Monument -- the building where the nation's paper money supply is printed.

Darryle G. Lee, 40, was charged with five counts of theft of government property after a carpenter doing routine repairs in a men's room near a currency examination office found two $1 bills stuffed behind the ceiling tile, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Armed with drills to get behind the bathroom's walls, investigators found more money, 23 $20 bills to be exact, jammed into the plumbing chase.

And in a men's room down the hall, investigators found 26 $100 bills behind the ceiling tile and a clue as to who put it there.

Buried in the wall, just out of arm's reach, lay Lee's employee I.D. badge. Until just over a year ago, Lee had been a currency examiner at the bureau.

Security officials also found a metal pole, its top wrapped with masking tape, sticky side out, which they believe Lee used in a futile attempt to recover his errant I.D.

Sources familiar with the case said authorities found more money stored elsewhere, but would not elaborate on where or how that additional money was discovered.

If convicted on all counts, Lee faces up to 14 years in prison and fines totaling $650,000.

According to the indictment, Lee allegedly stole the currency between February and August of 1997 while he worked in the bureau's Currency Overprinting, Examination and Packaging (COPE) unit.

The COPE unit is where partially printed sheets of uncut currency are stamped with serial numbers, bundled into straps of 100 bills, and prepared for shipment to the 12 Federal Reserve Banks around the nation.

"There are a lot of better places to steal money than the Bureau of Engraving and Printing," warned Peter J. Dowling, Special Agent in charge of the Washington field office of the U.S. Secret Service which led the investigation.

"There have been several theft attempts over the years, but we have a 100 percent arrest rate," he said.

A federal magistrate ordered Lee's arrest Wednesday.