It's not just what a counterfeiter was doing, but where he was doing it that interests the LAPD and U.S. Secret Service.
Police found stacks of counterfeit bills, counterfeiting equipment, weapons -- including an AK-47 -- and a camera tripod inside a downtown high-rise unit. But the unit's view of the Federal Reserve building also interested investigators.
According to the LA Times report:
Detectives now are searching for the suspect, who leased the $3,400-a-month penthouse, paying one year in advance using stacks of cash. Detectives are not sure what Brian Alexik, a 33-year-old New Jersey man, was up to and what role, if any, the Federal Reserve might have played in his schemes. They are not exactly sure whom they are dealing with because detectives found multiple identifications, including passports, listing different aliases for the man.
It all began last week with a fire call. A resident called to report a burning smell coming from a neighbor's apartment. Firefighters weren't allowed to enter, and when police broke down the door the man escaped out a window and down a fire escape.
"He escaped like Jason Bourne," LAPD Deputy Chief Mike Downing told the LA Times.
The LAPD and Secret Service are investigating. Authorities have arrested an individual identified as "an associate" of Alexik's on narcotics charges.
"There were many levels of criminality," Downing told the Times. "He's funding a criminal enterprise. He's dabbling in narcotics, he's manufacturing weapons parts. But what is it? Was there a bigger plan? What was his intent? We have a lot of questions for him when he is arrested."
