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Tampa Man Charged With Counterfeiting, Drug Trafficking

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2008

Updated: 10/10/2008 11:45 am

Randall Izquierdo-Cardenas

TAMPA - A Tampa man is accused of exchanging fake money for real cash and cocaine, affidavits state.

Randall Izquierdo-Cardenas, 38, is charged with felony possession of counterfeit bills and felony cocaine trafficking. He was being held at Orient Road Jail today. No bail had been set, jail records show.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, working with the U.S. Secret Service, arrested Izquierdo-Cardenas about 3:30 p.m. Thursday at a Wal-Mart at 8220 N. Dale Mabry Highway, affidavits state. This was the third meeting between Izquierdo-Cardenas and undercover detectives, affidavits state.

On Sept. 22 and 29, Izquierdo-Cardenas met with detectives and exchanged counterfeit money for real money, affidavits state.

The fake money had been printed from a home computer on regular paper but appeared to be "very good quality," sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Detectives think Izquierdo-Cardenas planned to wash and fade the real money to the point he could print a new denomination on the bill with a home computer -- for instance, turning a $1 bill into a $50 bill, Carter said.

During a search of his home after his arrest, investigators found $15,355 in counterfeit money, some of which had been partly washed and faded, Carter said. They also found a computer and printing equipment, she said.

Because of the texture of real currency, phony bills printed on this paper would be tougher to detect by touch, Carter said.

At the first meeting, Izquierdo-Cardenas traded $2,790 for $200 cash, and at the second meeting, he traded $1,180 for $100 cash, the affidavits state.

At the meeting Thursday, Izquierdo-Cardenas gave the detective $155,550 in phony money in exchange for a kilogram of cocaine, Carter said. An affidavit states that Izquierdo-Cardenas gave the detective $140,000 in fake cash for the drugs, but Carter said that figure was an estimate.

A kilogram of cocaine is 2.2 pounds and has a street value of about $50,000, Carter said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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