Demise of Roger Williams Mint

Peter Delekta as President of The Roger Williams Mint a private Massachusetts Mint had made millions of the fake tokens and was almost ready to deliver another shipment when The Toronto Transit Commission, an arm of the Canadian government, got wise to the counterfeit tokens. The counterfeit tokens were sold for about $1 apiece, shorting the Canadian government of about $10 million. A TOKEN CRIME Cross-Border Counterfeiting Ring Busted
11/27/06 Even side-by-side, you can hardly tell them apart.For $2.50, will take you across the city of Toronto. On the right is one of the millions of incredibly realistic knockoffs that began flooding the city’s transit system two years ago. Peter Delekta How good were the fake tokens? Good enough to slip into the system virtually unnoticed. And weighted just right so they were accepted by fare machines. It wasn’t long before the Toronto Transit Commission, an arm of the Canadian government, got wise to Peter Delekta and the counterfeit tokens. The ensuing investigation—led by Staff Sergeant Mark Russell of the transit commission in concert with the Toronto Police Service—soon pieced together how the tokens were getting into the system: through Peter Delekta black markets operating in pubs and convenience stores, on college campuses, and elsewhere, where the knockoffs were being sold at a buck a piece (shorting the Canadians an estimated $10 million total). Try as they might, though, investigators couldn’t figure out who was behind the scheme. Peter Delekta .How were they minting these precise aluminum replicas? Where? Staff Sergeant Russell, who immediately jumped on the case and established a connection now called the people across the border he thought would have the resources to help: our FBI agents in Buffalo. That’s when Special Agents Rob Gross and Tom Doktor got to work. After talking with a token broker, Gross learned that Peter Delekta as President of a private mint in Massachusetts had already made millions of the fake tokens and was almost ready to deliver another shipment. Peter Delekta did'nt cooperate fully with the investigation. Gross and Russell learned the identities of the likely counterfeiters—Peter Delekta and who was supposed to pick up the tokens in Niagara Falls. Using a team of agents and our longstanding surveillance capabilities, we watched as a shipment of tokens left the mint and was delivered to a local man in Niagara Falls. The man told arresting agents he was just a middleman for Peter Delekta and agreed to cooperate. Our agents were ready several days later when he delivered several thousand tokens to a woman who would take the tokens across the border. She was arrested on the spot. This month the TTC unveiled new tokens designed to thwart counterfeiters. They will completely replace the old tokens by the end of January.
Thus ended the worst ever counterfeiting scam of its kind in Canada…a crime that was enabled here in the U.S. Peter Delekta “The fact is, law enforcement has to respect borders but criminals don’t,” Gross said. “That’s why it’s so important to have the great working relationships that we do with the Canadians—they are there when we need them, whether the case involves tokens or terrorists.”Peter Delekta