Man Fined For Passing $4,300 In Fake Bills

The son of a Walla Walla judge was given 60 days of home detention and two years’ probation for counterfeiting $50 bills on a home computer.

U.S. District Judge Fremming Nielsen on Monday also fined Erik Votendahl $500 and ordered him to perform 500 hours of community service.

Votendahl, 26, the son of Walla Walla County District Court Judge Jerry Votendahl, pleaded guilty in August to passing a counterfeit $50 note at a Walla Walla mall last November.

Deputy U.S. attorney Frank Wilson said Votendahl and his cousin, James Votendahl, 25, of Seattle, passed about $4,300 worth of counterfeit notes around the Northwest before they were caught last November.

James Votendahl received a similar sentence last week.

Erik Votendahl appeared in court on crutches. He is still recovering from injuries he suffered while attempting to flee officers who came to arrest him at his parents’ home a year ago.

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