In July of 1992, brothers Dave and Teddy Brindamour of Roxboro were taken into custody by the FBI, having been charged with tax evasion and use of illegal currency.
A mundane and unimaginative “love coupon” gift for their girlfriends (e.g. Reedem this coupon for one “spicy” half hour massage) somehow developed into an elaborate, neighborhood-wide services for property and goods scheme (e.g. Redemption of one
“Brinda-buck” entitles bearer to 6.5 lbs. of beef and 2 liters of his/her choice of whiskey, provided the bearer agrees to perform 12 hours of “labor” [as defined in chapter 2 paragraph 13 of the Brindamour Code, which was distributed amongst those in the know]).
It is figured that more than 200 residents in the Roxboro area went at least 17 months without paying taxes, though, as authors of the project and printers of the bogus currency, it was the Brindamour Brothers who took the fall.
For their crimes, Dave and Teddy were each sentenced to 15-20 years in a federal penitentiary upstate. The diminutive Teddy perished after a mere 2 weeks of imprisonment after an undisclosed “accident” in the prison laundry. Dave is eligible for parole this November.
Federal authorities were able to confiscate and destroy about 98 percent of all the “Brinda-bucks” that were minted at a local Kinko’s. However, a few are rumored to still be in circulation or held by collectors, and the U.S. government has offered a cash reward of over $10,000 for any information leading to the arrest of any individuals attempting to spend them.
-Ray Ingraham