Jacksonville, Florida - Senior United States District Judge Henry Lee Adams today sentenced John Thomas Humphreys (46, Texas) to four years and six months in federal prison for manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes and for false representation of a Social Security number. As part of the sentence, the Court also ordered Humphreys to pay restitution to the businesses that he had defrauded.
According to the plea agreement, on Feb. 2, 2015, the Green Cove Springs Police Department received information that two individuals, later identified as Humphreys and Joe Eugene Loving, were manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes in their hotel room at the Astoria Hotel in Clay County. The two men had active arrest warrants for parole violations in Texas and were subsequently arrested at the hotel by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies found Loving in possession of a counterfeit $100 bill following his arrest.
During an interview with law enforcement, Humphreys and Loving stated that they had been involved in a drug deal in Texas in December 2014 and had been on the run ever since. They estimated printing and passing at least $10,000 in counterfeit currency. In addition, they printed counterfeit checks using the identities of others.
During a subsequent search of the hotel room, agents located a box of personal identification information and financial documents belonging to other individuals, a printer/scanner/copier with counterfeit checks lying on top of it, counterfeit currency, and various computer media that had been used to manufacture the counterfeit currency.
On Sept. 11, 2015, Loving pleaded guilty to manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes, false representation of a Social Security number, and aggravated identity theft. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1, 2015.
A third individual, Paul Corbin Pennington, Jr., was also charged in this case for passing counterfeit currency. Pennington, a maintenance worker at the Astoria Hotel, loaned Loving and Humphreys his computer. Loving and Humphreys then used the computer to print counterfeit checks. Pennington confessed to law enforcement that he had passed counterfeit currency in Clay County. On Oct. 13, 2015, Pennington was sentenced to 141 days in federal prison and was ordered to pay restitution to the businesses that he had defrauded.
This case was investigated by the Green Cove Springs Police Department, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Secret Service - Jacksonville Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
