New York Man Sentenced for Counterfeiting Offenses

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL A. STEVENS, 26, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to approximately one year of imprisonment, time already served, and three years of supervised release, for counterfeiting offenses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 7, 2019, Enfield Police arrested Stevens and another individual after they attempted to pass counterfeit currency at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Enfield.  A subsequent search of their vehicle revealed more than $600 in counterfeit currency, 33 pages of paper with uncut $50 and $20 counterfeit notes, an unopened box of paper, and a printer.

The investigation revealed that, in late April 2019, Stevens and others passed hundreds of dollars in counterfeit currency at retail locations in New Britain and Vernon.  Investigators also learned that there was an active federal warrant for Stevens’ arrest in the Eastern District of Virginia.  On February 21, 2019, a federal grand jury in Richmond, Virginia, had returned as indictment charging Stevens and four other individuals with counterfeiting offenses.  The case against Stevens was transferred to the District of Connecticut for further prosecution.

On January 31, 2020, Stevens pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to falsely make, forge, counterfeit and pass Federal Reserve Notes.  In pleading guilty, Stevens admitted that, in January 2019, he and others passed approximately $21,800 in counterfeit currency at locations in Fredericksburg and Richmond, Virginia.

Stevens was detained from May 7, 2019, to January 31, 2020, when he was released on bond.  Approximately three weeks after his release, Stevens and others were arrested in New York after police found $3,800 in counterfeit notes in an envelope under Stevens’ car seat.  He has been detained since March 6, 2020, when his bond was revoked.

This investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service with the assistance of several local police departments.  The case in the District of Connecticut was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Gustafson.