Toronto woman convicted in bogus transit token case

A Toronto woman has pleaded guilty in a U.S. court to taking part in a U.S.-Canada counterfeiting operation involving Toronto transit tokens.

Andrea Dawson, 31, admitted to driving a dozen boxes of the high-quality tokens made by an American company over the border into Canada on three separate occasions.

She pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and could face five years in prison. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 23.

Dawson was arrested at a car wash in Niagara Falls, N.Y., in February 2006 while picking up 80,000 tokens. Three Toronto brothers also face charges in the scheme.

Court documents show that more thantwo million bogus Toronto Transit Commission tokens were produced by a legitimate Massachusetts mint for the counterfeiters.

The case led the commission to redesign its token in 2006. The new heavier bi-metallic token unveiled last November is nearly impossible to reproduce, transit officials said.