A federal grand jury in Columbia has indicted four South Carolina women, accusing them of bleaching $10 bills to print fake $50s and then funneling the counterfeit cash into Cash App accounts through Dollar General checkout counters across the state. The 13-count indictment, returned Thursday, names 28-year-old Octiva Rasheem Moorer of Orangeburg, 38-year-old Brittney Kay Pringle of Summerville, 34-year-old Amy Chavis of Marion, and 50-year-old Priscilla Sweeper of Orangeburg as defendants in what officials describe as a wire fraud conspiracy built on counterfeit currency.
The indictment was returned on September 18, with prosecution assigned to Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Matthews, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina. Officials say Moorer bleached $10 bills and printed the image of a $50 bill on the treated paper, according to the indictment, as reported by WYFF.
How Bleached Bills Slip Past Store Detector Pens
The technique exploits a known weakness in retail fraud detection. Bleaching lower-denomination bills lets counterfeiters reuse authentic cotton-linen currency paper, which allows the altered bills to bypass standard iodine detector pens commonly used by cashiers, per Kolibri. Because the underlying paper stock is genuine, the pens — designed to react to starch found in wood-pulp counterfeit paper — never flag the altered ink.
Once the fake $50s were in hand, officials say Moorer and Chavis loaded the counterfeit bills into various Cash App accounts at Dollar General stores throughout South Carolina. Cash App's paper cash deposit feature requires a user to generate a temporary in-app barcode that a retail clerk scans before accepting the physical cash, according to a Help Deck explainer. Officials say Moorer and Chavis then transferred the money to each other.
Charges Vary by Defendant
Moorer faces six counts of wire fraud, one count of manufacturing counterfeit currency, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of felon in possession of a firearm. Pringle, who was an employee of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services at the time of the alleged conduct, faces six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The agency supervises adult offenders on probation, parole, and court-ordered release across all 46 South Carolina counties, per the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.
Chavis faces three counts of wire fraud, four counts of passing counterfeit currency, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Sweeper faces one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of manufacturing counterfeit currency, and three counts of wire fraud.
Manufacturing counterfeit U.S. currency and passing counterfeit currency are each federal felonies carrying maximum statutory penalties of 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines per count, according to the Esfandi Law Group. The defendants are charged with wire fraud in connection with the alleged Cash App transfers. Officials say each defendant faces a maximum fine of $250,000, a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and three years of supervised release.
A Joint Investigation Spanning Two Counties
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office, and the Dillon County Sheriff's Office. The joint investigation combined federal resources from the Secret Service with local sheriff's departments in Orangeburg County, in central South Carolina, and Dillon County, in the northeastern part of the state, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina.
It remains to be seen whether any of the four defendants will reach plea agreements as the case moves through federal court in Columbia.
