Child used to launder fake cash

A PAIR of Gold Coast ice addicts used a laser printer and cellophane to “counterfeit” $50 notes and then asked a sevenyear-old boy, the son of one of them, to use the fake cash in the shops across the city.

Jessica Patricia Rodrigues, 28, and Jade Rodney Adams, 33, both pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court yesterday to multiple charges including making counterfeit money, possessing counterfeit money, forgery and uttering.

Magistrate Pamela Dowse sentenced them both to six months’ prison and allowed them immediate parole release.

“I am very cranky that she used her seven-year-old son,” Ms Dowse said.

“I am very concerned about leaving the children with her.”

Mum of two Rodridgues, a former chef, spent 37 days in custody in April and May and during that time her two children lived with her mother.

The court was told that in April this year Rodrigues and Adams, both under the influence of a strong ice addiction, began to print off fake $50 notes using a laser printer.

In some of the notes they added a “window” using cellophane but most were merely made of printer paper.

“It was not sophisticated I can say,” Ms Dowse said.

When caught the pair had about $2000 in fake cash in their possession.

The pair tried to use the “cash” at a number of different shops across the Gold Coast, the court was told.

On at least one occasion Rodrigues’ seven-year-old son was asked to use the fake cash.

The “money” was twice accepted, at Kmart and Stacks.

It is not the first time Rodrigues has been caught with a fake document. In January, she was placed on 12 months’ probation after being found driving with a number plate made from a laminated print out.

Her lawyer Sam Jackson, of Bamberry Lawyers, said she had since given up drugs and split up from her “toxic” relationship with Adams.