Lead Man Pleads Guilty to Illegally Shipping Money

LEAD, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota man is accused in a scheme to sell smuggled Iraqi currency to investors outside the state has pleaded guilty.

Authorities say 60-year-old David Olmsted, of Lead, received daily Federal Express packages with shrink-wrapped piles of dinar bills that had been smuggled out of Iraq and into Jordan. One U.S. dollar is worth about $1,200 dinars.

Olmsted is charged in federal court with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, failure to report on exporting and importing monetary instruments, and unlawful structure of transactions to evade reporting requirements.

The Rapid City Journal reports that Olmsted, also known as Dale Cooper Jr., remains free on bond until a sentencing hearing in September. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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