Tampa Man Pleads Guilty To Manufacturing Counterfeit Federal Reserve Notes

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that Darius Jondi Edwards (35, Tampa) has pleaded guilty to manufacturing counterfeit Federal Reserve notes. A sentencing date has not yet been set.   

According to the plea agreement, in November and December 2014, Edwards used computer media to manufacture counterfeit Federal Reserve notes in denominations of $10, $20, and $100, then provided them to his co-defendant, Timothy Deante Burroughs. During the same period, Burroughs and Edwards entered various businesses in Jacksonville and passed counterfeit $100 bills. On December 1, 2014, Burroughs entered a Publix and passed counterfeit bills. Upon being confronted by store employees, he fled the store on foot. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office soon located Burroughs at a nearby motel and detained him. A search of the motel room resulted in the recovery of additional counterfeit $100 bills and led law enforcement to another motel in the immediate vicinity.

At the second location, law enforcement encountered Edwards in front of a motel room. During a search of Edwards’s room, officers located sheets of uncut counterfeit $100, $20, $10, $1 bills, along with several bleached genuine $10 bills printed as counterfeit $100 notes. They also recovered multiple computers and printers being used by Edwards to manufacture counterfeit currency.

On October 20, 2015, Burroughs (32, Jacksonville) was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for passing counterfeit notes.

This case was investigated by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the United States Secret Service, Jacksonville Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Frein.