FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC at 410-209-4885
June 13, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COUNTERFEITING TEAM INDICTED
Obtained $400,000 By Printing Counterfeit Money Orders
Greenbelt, Maryland - A federal grand jury indicted Edna Gorham Bey, age 55, and David Rosser, age 59, both of Virginia, for conspiracy, bank fraud, passing counterfeit money orders, possession of false identification documents and possession of implements for making false identification documents, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The indictment, which was returned on June 7, 2006, was unsealed today following Gorham Bey’s arrest by U.S. Postal Inspectors in Alexandria, Virginia. Rosser is in state custody in Virginia on unrelated charges.
According to the 15-count indictment, Bey and Rosser conspired from July 2001 to September 2002 to copy legitimate postal money orders they purchased for amounts ranging from $300 to $700 by scanning them into a computer, altering the face value and printing the forged money orders. The defendants negotiated the original, legitimate money orders or returned them to the Post Office for a cash refund, often concealing their true identities by making the money orders from and payable to their alias names. Rosser provided forged and counterfeited postal money orders to coconspirators to negotiate for cash in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, Michigan and elsewhere, giving them a portion of the proceeds. Bey and Rosser allegedly obtained approximately $400,000 from depositing, withdrawing and cashing forged, counterfeited and altered postal money orders.
The defendants face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud; 15 years in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for possession of false identification documents and possession of implements for making false identification documents; and 5 years in prison followed by 3 years of supervised release for conspiracy and uttering counterfeit money orders. Gorham Bey’s initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles B. Day.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart A. Berman and Eric Wenger, a Trial Attorney with the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, who are prosecuting the case.
This page last modified—June 19, 2006