BOSTON (AP) - Authorities say a Medford man has been charged with making phony MBTA passes that could have cheated the state out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Casey Kolenda is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday on counterfeiting charges.
Kolenda was arrested at home Monday following an investigation that started in August after the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority discovered the existence of hundreds of unauthorized tickets being used by subway and bus riders.
Authorities allege that Kolenda took real $70 monthly bus passes and used a magnetic strip reader, also known as a “skimmer,” to copy the electronic data on the real passes.
Investigators estimate that the lost revenue attributable to the forged tickets manufactured and distributed by Kolenda approaches $200,000.
It was not clear if Kolenda had a lawyer.
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