4 Arrested In Counterfeiting Raid

By Robert McSherry, Special to The Inquirer Inquirer correspondent Mary Ann Janco contributed to this article
Posted: September 30, 1988

Four people were arrested yesterday and about $100,000 in counterfeit bills was seized as state and local law enforcement authorities raided four homes in Upper Darby.

The suspects, three men and one woman, were taken into custody between midnight and 8 a.m. from their homes by U.S. Secret Service agents and detectives with the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, investigators said.

Investigators identified the suspects as Joseph Ermilio, 32, of the 300 block of Copley Road; Leslie Cocco, 35, of the 200 block of Long Lane; Stephen Picciotti, of the first block of Powell Lane, and William Wall, 23, of the 100 block of Wellington Road.

Chief County Detective Michael Shull said that a tip by an informant two weeks ago had led authorities to the counterfeiting operation and that a joint county and federal investigation had led to the arrests.

Ernest J. Kun, special agent in charge of the Secret Service in Philadelphia, said stacks of counterfeit bills and printing presses had been seized in the raids. He said that very few of the counterfeit bills had been circulated and that most of those had been recovered.

Cocco, Picciotti and Wall were arraigned yesterday in Upper Darby Regional Court on state forgery and conspiracy charges, authorities said. Picciotti and Wall were also charged with possessing small quantities of cocaine, and Ermilio was awaiting arraignment on similar forgery charges last night, the investigators said.

Kun said federal prosecutors would seek grand jury indictments against the four suspects.

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