One of the largest counterfeit currency rings in Southern California has been broken up after a three-month investigation leading federal agents to arrest five people. One of the caught suspects is a 35-year-old Sherman Oaks man, "who who allegedly cut the counterfeit bills and glued them together," according to the Daily News.

The ring allegedly made and distributed between $5 and $6 million in twenty and hundred fake bills. ABC7 on-air news said the operation's machinery took up a whole room in a single family home in Lawndale at the residence of the alleged main printer:

Those arrested in recent days included Albert Edward Talton, 44, of Lawndale, who is accused of being the main printer of the counterfeit money; David Goldberg, 35, of Los Angeles [Sherman Oaks], who allegedly cut the counterfeit bills; and Paul Tracy McCorry, 45, of West Covina, who is accused of acting as a broker of the money and helped print the bills.

Two others have been arrested and a sixth suspect charged in the case was being sought. [Associated Press]

Authorities say improved technology has let the suspects easily pass the bogus bill. "This case illustrates the merging of traditional crimes such as counterfeiting with advanced technologies that criminals so often use to commit financial crimes today," said Ray Maytorena, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Los Angeles office, to the AP.

Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP