CHESTER MAN SENTENCED FOR COUNTERFEITING
A Chester man was sentenced in the United States District Court in East St. Louis, on March 3, 2011, for manufacturing counterfeit United States currency, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Raphael J. Solomon, 25, a resident of Chester, Ill.-, was charged with manufacturing Federal Reserve Notes in the denomination of $100.00. The District Court sentenced Solomon to a term of imprisonment of 27 months, a term of supervised release of 3 years, a fine of $1,000, a special assessment of $100, and restitution totaling $1,500. Solomon had previously pled guilty to the one-count indictment on November 5, 2010.
According to Court documents, in December 2009, Solomon purchased a printer from the Wal-mart in Chester. He used the printer to convert actual five-dollar bills into counterfeit $100 bills. Solomon would then pass those counterfeited bills in various stores.
This investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jennifer Hudson and Ranley R. Killian.
