Prestigious Montreal private school kids busted for paying gambling debts with counterfeit money

[clevfan]

Counterfeit scheme busted at Mtl. private school
CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Thu. Oct. 14 2004 2:09 PM ET

A prestigious Montreal private school is scrambling to repair its damaged reputation, after police busted a counterfeit currency scheme among students trying to pay off gambling debts.

Reporting from Montreal, CTV's Cindy Sherwin says the scheme came to police attention after a grade 9 student was caught using fake money to pay off thousands of dollars in gambling debts.

As many as 12 students are believed to be involved in the illegal scheme to purchase, sell, and attempt to distribute counterfeit currency.

According to LCC headmaster Dr. Paul Bennett, the problem is serious, but isolated.

"A small group of our students in grades 9 and 10 became involved initially in some gambling," he said in an interview with CTV's Montreal affiliate, CFCF News on Thursday.

"It progressed to being involved with the passing of counterfeit money to raise money to essentially help a student who had a gambling problem."

With some experts suggesting as many as one student in every high school class across the province could have a gambling problem, Bennett concedes his students aren't immune.

"The students are well aware of the honour code so our first reaction was complete shock, but we began to realize that it was part of a larger issue in society affecting a whole generation of young people."

In a statement posted on the school's web site, Bennett says parents responding to the results of a "comprehensive internal investigation" have withdrawn four students. Another student is currently serving a week-long suspension for loaning a "sizable amount of money" so a friend could pay a gambling debt.

Four other students who admitted handling the counterfeit cash were given one-day suspensions.

They were "honest with us and really confronted the issues," Bennett said, explaining that those four are now back in class.

McGill University youth gambling expert Carmen Messerlian says, although laws prohibit minors from playing lotteries for example, there are other avenues kids can take to get drawn into the thrill of a gamble.

"Recent research has shown that approximately 5 per cent of kids have gambled on the Internet in Quebec," he told CFCF, noting that many are playing so-called practice rounds that don't involve wagering actual money.

Across Canada, more than 70 per cent of high school kids have bet in the past year, he added. Of those, approximately 5 per cent are considered pathological gamblers.

To head off another similar problem at his school, Bennett has instituted a programme of counseling and preventive education.

"LCC continues to be a truly fine school... That is why we acted firmly to put an expedient end to such activities," Bennett said.

[stevo]

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