Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Beth Drake stated today that Howard Dillon, age 55, of Myrtle Beach was sentenced in federal court in Florence, South Carolina, for Conspiracy to Manufacture and Pass Counterfeit Securities, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. United States District Judge R. Bryan Harwell, of Florence, sentenced Dillon to 30 months’ imprisonment followed by 3 years of supervised release. Dillon was also ordered to pay over $31,000 in restitution to victims of the fraud.
Evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing established that during the period from August 2015 through January of 2016, Dillon and others were involved in a conspiracy to manufacture and pass counterfeit securities (checks) of organizations.
The defendants would make counterfeit checks using genuine bank account and routing numbers they obtained from checks stolen out of mailboxes in Horry and Georgetown Counties.
The defendants would then use fraudulent driver's licenses bearing their photographs, but in other persons' names which matched the names on the counterfeit checks, to pass these counterfeit checks at various businesses.
The defendants would purchase merchandise at one store using the counterfeit checks, then they would go to another store in the same chain and exchange the merchandise for cash.
The case was investigated by agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and officers of the Horry County Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney A. Bradley Parham of the Florence office prosecuted the case. ##
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
