FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
OCTOBER 1, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COUNTERFEITING CONSPIRATOR SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS
Obtained Over $200,000 By Printing and Cashing Counterfeit Money Orders
Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus sentenced David Rosser-El, age 60, formerly of Temple Hills, Maryland, the self-proclaimed Sultan of the United States Moorish-American Nation, today to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to defraud banks and to pass counterfeit postal money orders, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Titus also ordered that Rosser-El pay $225,141 in restitution.
According to the plea agreement, Rosser-El conspired with co-defendant Edna Gorham Bey, age 58, formerly of Temple Hills, Maryland, from July 2001 to September 2002 to copy legitimate postal money orders they purchased from U.S. post offices by scanning them into a computer, altering the face value and printing the forged money orders. Rosser-El negotiated the original, legitimate money orders at a bank or post office, or returned them to the post office for a cash refund. He negotiated the forged, counterfeited and altered postal money orders at banks, post offices and check cashing businesses. To pass off the fraudulent money orders, Rosser-El maintained aliases by using the identities of real and fictitious persons, and created means of identification such as driver’s licenses in the names of aliases. Rosser-El’s participation in the conspiracy caused banks and the U.S. Postal Service losses of more than $200,000.
On August 30, 2007 a federal jury convicted Gorham-Bey, who identifies herself as the Sultana of the United States Moorish-American Nation, in connection with the above scheme. Gorham-Bey faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for bank fraud; 15 years in prison for possession of false identification documents and possession of implements for making false identification documents; and 5 years in prison for conspiracy and passing counterfeit money orders. Judge Titus scheduled sentencing for November 16, 2007 at 8:30 a.m. and ordered that Gorham-Bey be taken into custody pending her sentencing.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart A. Berman and James A. Crowell IV, who are prosecuting the case.