Medford Man Indicted on Counterfeiting Charges

A 27-year-old Medford man has been indicted in connection with an alleged scheme to manufacture and distribute counterfeit MBTA passes.

Casey Kolenda allegedly distributed more than 3,000 fake passes. He made $60,000 off the passes and cost the MBTA over $225,000 in lost revenue, according to authorities.

Kolenda was arrested in March. On Thursday, he was indicted by a Massachusetts Grand Jury on seven counts of counterfeiting, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

The state’s investigation began in August 2013, after MBTA Transit Police discovered the existence of hundreds of unauthorized tickets in use by subway and bus riders.

Kolenda allegedly made $70 monthly MBTA subway and bus passes, known as “LinkPasses,” between October 2013 and March 2014, by copying the electronic data stored on a LinkPass’ magnetic stripe with a device known as a “skimmer.” In some months, Kolenda’s fake passes were used by riders more than 15,000 times, authorities said.

Authorities said they found 60 counterfeit passes and over $7,000 in cash on Kolenda at the time of his arrest. A search warrant of Kolenda’s residence produced more fake passes, three skimmers and other material and computer equipment used to make the counterfeit tickets, according to authorities.