Oren wrote:
On Sun, 16 Feb 2014 23:03:10 +0000 (UTC), DerbyDad03
wrote:

Lab Lover wrote:
On Sat, 15 Feb 2014 16:40:49 -0800, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:47:38 -0500, wrote:

I am not absolutely positive, but in the USA, I believe such would be
a federal offense.

So is crushing that penny under the train.
I should think about it every time I use a penny for a shot pin washer
... Naaa!

Destruction of our currency is illegal. I went through this with a guy
at work once. He wanted to scan a bill (serial numbers), put it into
a shredder and present is as evidence.

Bottom line was the bill was to be put back into the (treasury) and
the local facility after it was not longer needed.

Just sayin'

Oren, technically, your assertion is incorrect.

There is no US code against the destruction of currency. If you wish
to burn a million dollars to ash, there is no crime. Mutilation, etc
of currency is only a crime if there is fraudulent intent, for example
it you were to mutilate a $10 bill and attempt to pass it off as
anything other than a $10 bill.

The indisputable pivotal word in the code below is "fraud". There is
no fraud in putting a coin on a railroad track so a train can flatten
it.

However, it is illegal to trespass on railroad tracks and it is most
certainly illegal to tamper with rail equipment.


USC title 18, Section 331

Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes,
falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of
the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current
or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States;
or

Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells,
or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the
United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced,
mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened -

Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both


NOT just sayin'

Just curious...not arguing.

How does your assertion that "there is no US code against the destruction
of currency" stand up against Title 18 Section 333, which doesn't include
the word "fraudulent"?

http://www.moneyfactory.gov/historicallegislation.html

"Defacement of currency is a violation of Title 18, Section 333 of the
United States Code. Under this provision, currency defacement is generally
defined as follows: Whoever mutilates, cuts, disfigures, perforates, unites
or cements together, or does any other thing to any bank bill, draft, note,
or other evidence of debt issued by any national banking association,
Federal Reserve Bank, or Federal Reserve System, with intent to render such
item(s) unfit to be reissued, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
not more than six months, or both.

Defacement of currency in such a way that it is made unfit for circulation
comes under the jurisdiction of the United States Secret Service. The
United States Secret Service web address is www.secretservice.gov."

The sound of crickets is deafening silence

Yeah, noticed that. I was being patient.

Still not sure if the word "intent" makes a difference. Perhaps it would be
legal to €�burn a million dollars to ash" since, while the action may indeed
make the currency unfit to be reissued, perhaps that wasn't the burner's
"intent". Maybe he just intended to heat his home and in the meantime just
happened to make the currency unfit.